A CRACKDOWN on new J-category housing consents has been launched by Housing Minister Terry Le Main in a bid to protect local jobs and keep house prices under control during the recession.
And he has given a clear warning to employers that virtually no applications will be approved for staff members who are already living and working in Jersey, no matter how important they are to a business. Senator Le Main has also made it clear that the States sector will not escape the crackdown either.
He said that all employers had a responsibility to train Islanders to take up new jobs rather than looking to bring in people from overseas to do jobs that people already living here could do.
The Housing Minister (pictured) said that he had refused a large number of applications for essential-employee status in recent times and added that he intended to continue to do so. In many cases, of those he has approved, he has only granted consent for the employee to lease an apartment for two or three years rather than allowing them to buy a house and stay for five or ten years.
