Islander's plea after fire leaves him homeless months before residency milestone - Jersey Evening Post
by Lacey Le Boutillier · Jersey Evening PostPosted inNews
Islander’s plea after fire leaves him homeless months before residency milestone
by Lacey Le Boutillier 6 August 20266 August 2026
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A HOSPITALITY worker who is just months away from qualifying for full residential status has appealed for help after losing his home in a fire and struggling to find both permanent accommodation and full-time work.
Stefanos Andreasis has lived in Jersey since May 2017 and is approaching the ten years of continuous residency normally required to obtain entitled residential status, which allows Islanders to rent, buy or lease any property without restrictions.
However, after the studio he rented was badly damaged in a fire caused by a switch overload, Mr Andreasis says he has been left sleeping on a friend’s sofa while trying to rebuild his life.
He is now asking the government to consider granting him entitled status early through an exceptional hardship decision.
His case comes as Housing Minister Malcolm Ferey confirmed that the route for exceptional residency decisions will be updated in September, making appeals easier in future.
Under the current system, individual hardship applications are considered through the Control of Housing and Work team, with appeals ultimately going to the Royal Court.
From September, hardship cases will instead be considered by a panel.
“Things will be changing for the better, but even as it is now, there is a very robust mechanism to allow people to make an application for a change,” said Mr Ferey.
For Mr Andreasis, however, those changes may come too late to solve his immediate problems.
After working in Jersey’s hospitality industry for almost a decade, he said life had become increasingly difficult following the pandemic.
“I am still working part-time at the moment,” he said. “I used to have a full-time job and a part-time job since everything is really expensive for Islanders.”
Mr Andreasis said he lost his previous full-time role after businesses began cutting salaries, benefits and jobs, and now works part-time in a fine-dining restaurant while continuing to search for permanent employment.
“The Jersey job market is extremely difficult at the moment,” he said.
Mr Andreasis said he had attended more than ten interviews and submitted many more applications without success.
“Most places here in Jersey don’t bother to send you an email saying, ‘thank you so much for your application’, us hospitality workers just receive nothing back.”
Although he would prefer to remain in hospitality, he said he had also applied for entry-level finance roles in an effort to improve his situation.
“I would love to remain working in hospitality as that is what I enjoy, but I need to be getting paid properly, instead of not getting paid enough,” said Mr Andreasis.
His housing situation worsened after the fire left his rented studio uninhabitable.
Mr Andreasis said he contacted the government, which directed him to the Population Office, while he also sought help from Shelter Trust Jersey and the Salvation Army.
The Salvation Army provided details of lodges, he said, “but there were no lodges available, so I couldn’t find anything”.
“I need to find a place to stay,” said Mr Andreasis, who is currently staying with a friend – but emphasised the arrangement cannot continue indefinitely.
“Yes, they’re helping me, but it is not easy for them, and certainly not easy for me,” he explained. “I’m not using their residence all day; instead, I’m just going there to get some rest.”
He has also been in touch with Jersey Advice Centre, which he said had helped him contact the government’s Housing Department, but he is still waiting for a response.
“We live here on Jersey when everything is increasingly getting very expensive,” he said. “The government wants to take taxes from people, but they don’t want to help when I am not in a good situation.”
Mr Andreasis also said he had repeatedly tried to contact his former landlady to obtain documentation relating to the fire, but alleged that she had not responded.
He is now appealing to Islanders who may be able to help him find accommodation while he continues searching for a full-time job and works towards reaching his ten-year residency milestone.
“That’s all I want to achieve, is to find somewhere to stay,” he said. “That’s my key point. I don’t want to start creating any issues.”
While he hopes his circumstances may qualify him for an exceptional hardship decision, Mr Andreasis remains uncertain.
“I don’t think they will make an exception, but I need to see what the other possible options are,” he said.
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