Mar 19 - GSD Announces New Housing Policy In Bid To End “Culture Of Entitlement”
The GSD would introduce means testing for all those wishing to apply for government housing if voted into office at the next election. That was the main message of a press conference held this morning at the party’s headquarters in College Lane.
The leader of the Opposition, Daniel Feetham, explained that this policy would enable a future GSD administration to deliver rental homes to those who genuinely need them. He said that the move would also promote home ownership by ensuring that there were sufficient part-ownership or affordable housing schemes for those able to purchase their own property.
The tests to determine eligibility would examine whether housing applicants are able to secure a mortgage from a local lender. This scheme would only apply to new housing applicants and not to existing tenants.
Mr Feetham, together with Shadow Minister for Housing Edwin Reyes and Elliott Phillips, said that the policy was an example of the party’s wider drive to bring an end to a “culture of entitlement” that it believes is deeply damaging to Gibraltar. Mr Feetham accepts that, although the new policy might not be “universally popular”, it is in Gibraltar’s long terms interests to pursue what he terms a “fair and sustainable” housing programme adding that a more detailed outline of the changes would be put to the public for a period of consultation.
Mr Feetham warned that the current administration’s management of public finances and the uncertainty surrounding the border and relations with Spain were the ingredients for a “perfect storm” which could have negative consequences for Gibraltar’s future prosperity. He said that this new housing policy was an attempt to plan a more sustainable and financially prudent future course for Gibraltar.
