Couple leaves Savannah

Happy and relieved to once more have a proper roof over their heads.

This was the response of Erica Joseph, 57, and her husband, Wendell Joseph, 67, when contacted by Newsday this evening about their new home.

The couple had disappeared from the Queen’s Park Savannah (QPS) yesterday afternoon after calling a small patch of grass there home for the past month.

Erica and Wendell had been living there in a make-shift tent there, having gone through several attempts in recent years to find suitable housing - Erica was in a wheelchair but since their last time living outside, her legs have been amputated.

Newsday understands that around 1 pm yesterday (Friday), officials from the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) came to the QPS to take the couple to their new home - a ground floor apartment at Charford Court, Corner Charlotte and Oxford Streets, Port of Spain.

"I feeling real good," Erica told Newsday while preparing to take her first proper bath in weeks.

"The apartment looking nice but the place empty, so I have to get furniture, a stove, (et cetera)."

Wendell meanwhile said he was "happy and relieved that we have a roof over our heads. It was hard; living in the Savannah."

This past Tuesday, the couple was almost 'evicted' from where they had been squatting on the QPS but the people hired to do so were convinced to delay removing the couple after pleas from several people, including Harvey Borris and Boxu Potts.

As reported by Newsday earlier this week, Erica had said after it was discovered that she and her husband were back at the QPS, HDC employees visited and told her they are working on getting them proper lodging within the next few days.

That promise was fulfilled today.