HDC working with police to remove illegal occupants

The Housing Development Corporation (HDC) is working with police to address the illegal occupation of some of its properties.

Without naming communities, HDC chairman Brent Lyons said the situation is a work in progress since, in some cases, the HDC has had to do repeated evictions.

“The issue of gangs or criminal activity in some of our communities is a significant challenge....We’ve been working very closely with the TT Police Service – they’ve been providing tremendous support to us with respect to HDC identifying and doing evictions and so on.

“They have arrested some persons and taken them before the court.”

Lyons provided the update on Wednesday when he appeared before Parliament’s Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC).

The committee’s focus that day was on the construction, maintenance and refurbishment of state-owned or state-funded housing projects and units.

Asked by committee member Wade Mark about the situation now, Lyons replied, “We’ve had some significant successes but there are a few communities that we still have some challenges with.

“We have a targeted programme to deal with that.”

Lyons also updated the PAAC on plans to reduce maintenance bills by transferring this responsibility to homeowners/tenants via the establishment and implementation of homeowners’ associations or management companies.

Responding to a question from committee vice-chairman Dr Lackram Bodoe, he said through a pilot project, the HDC has introduced a maintenance fee along with a client’s rent/mortgage payment. “It may be a challenge in some of the older communities, particularly based on what the rent is, but it is the way that we are proposing to go. We think, over time, people will recognise the benefit of this as well as the autonomy which it gives them to be able to take charge of their circumstances.”