Youth Committee to Explore Island’s Housing Crisis

A Committee of young people are to question experts and politicians about the commitment to tackle the island’s ‘housing crisis’.

The committee will focus on ensuring that everyone, in particular those aged 16 to 25, has a ‘suitable and affordable place to call home’.

The group of Manxies, aged between 15 and 24, will meet monthly in Legislative Buildings as part of a twelve-month Youth Select Committee inquiry.

The committee, chaired by SNHS student Alex Cowley, will mirror the structure of Tynwald committees and chose the housing crisis as an area that is of most interest to them as a group.

We met six of the committee, Alex, Riona Zaman, David Cowin, Aedan Clarke, Kyra Campbell and Zara Milanova to discuss their backgrounds and why that has led to them wanting to tackle this issue.

Whether it is the seemingly impossible task of owning their own home or improving support for care leavers or the way that local authority housing is run, each of the committee is coming at the issue from a different perspective based on their own lived experiences, arguably giving it a broader range than some Tynwald committees that they are based on.

Why it was formed and how it will run

Julia Cullen, engagement services executive at the Office of the Clerk of Tynwald explains.

‘Following the success of the British Youth Council’s initiative in the UK, and the impactful reports produced by the young people on the Youth Select Committee on our neighbouring island, we wanted to explore this option for Manx parliament.

‘After planning and running the annual Junior Tynwald, it was encouraging to see how passionate young people on the Isle of Man are about the issues they face alongside their peers and the wider community.

‘We believe that a Youth Select Committee will provide a platform to equip young people with the skills and opportunities to influence changes on the Island, and a signal to young people that their voices matter.

‘The Committee will run for a twelve month inquiry period, during that time they will be supported with research and the calling of witnesses through written evidence and a public oral evidence session and will finish the inquiry with a final report to be produced and presented to Tynwald.’