20 years later, woman waiting on HDC

Beverly Mulraine has been waiting for a house for almost 20 years, when she applied for a home under the now defunct, National Housing Authority (NHA), the precursor organisation to the current Housing Development Corporation (HDC).

Today, Mulraine’s home is dangerously close to collapse as increased rainfall threatens to destroy the wooden, one-bedroom structure which is situated on a slope. Mulraine visited Newsday’s Port of Spain office yesterday saying she visited the HDC several times over the past 19 years and despite continuous reassurances, she is no closer to finding a home.

“I applied for a house back in 1998 when it was still called NHA. My home is in really bad condition and I can’t even use the washroom...I need to go to my cousin’s house a short distance away if I need to use the toilet. Whenever I need to take a shower, I need to put on a bath suit and go outside to bathe. Is that any way for people to live in 2017?”

Mulraine works as a domestic cleaner and fears that one day, she will return home from work to find her house collapsed. “As it is right now, the house is located on a slope with a precipice at the bottom. It’s prone to landslides and mudslides. It’s a serious concern for me because I have done everything possible and still the situation has not improved.”

Mulraine is calling on the relevant authorities to look into the matter and says that she has made repeated attempts to contact surveyors and officials from the HDC but to no avail. She says that while she has sought to try and minimise the effects of weathering, the house will inevitably crumble.