HDC promises home for Pleasantville squatter

SEETA PERSAD

PLEASANTVILLE squatter Zeia Flemming, 51, who was evicted from her home recently, has been told the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) will provide her with accommodation.

The single mother and her 11-year-old son were given notice to leave their one-bedroom shack on Maple Avenue, Pleasantville, San Fernando in January. Afterwards Flemming went to the HDC office in San Fernando seeking help. She was asked to fill out a form and to wait until housing is available.

“This is why I had no choice but to get the media involved,” Flemming said. Flemming said she applied to the HDC six years ago, but was never interviewed until now. Yesterday, she went to the Pleasantville Health Centre, as she suffers from high blood pressure.

“I have not been in the best of health and I am concerned for my son. This is why I am trying hard to get a home,” Flemming said. Soon after her story was published in Newsday, she received a call from the HDC in Port of Spain. On Tuesday, an HDC officer interviewed her and gave her two forms to fill out. She was given a deadline date of June 27, to seek help in verifying her position, to be confirmed by Legal Aid, and to get her documents in order. She was asked to return to the HDC in Port of Spain with the forms and told she would then be given a home.