Housing minister Dave Jones, left, and Housing Association chief executive Steve Williams look at the plans for 15 bungalows for elderly people that could be built on this site in Mont Arrive. (Picture by Peter Frankland, 0590610)

STATES houses at Mont Arrive are to be replaced with bungalows designed for older people.

The Housing Association has submitted an application to the Environment Department to replace the 10 houses, some of which are still occupied, with 15 bungalows. The Housing Department decided the properties were not economically viable to renovate and that the site would be better used by working with the association to provide purpose-built homes for older people current living in family-sized States houses.

Housing minister Dave Jones said the project would ease underoccupation of larger States houses by elderly people. ‘The underoccupying of family homes is a huge problem for Housing at the moment,’ he said.

‘There are approximately 290 family homes that we can identify as being underoccupied. We have not had the smaller units for people to move into so that we can free up these family homes for people on our waiting list.’