3 housing projects for PoS

Three housing developments in Port of Spain are in the planning stages, says deputy mayor Hillan Morean.

Morean made the announcement at a house and building expo at the Radisson Hotel, on Thursday.

Sources told Sunday Newsday the three developments are expected to be part of a larger government initiative to provide 6,000 housing units by December next year.

During an address, Morean mentioned three projects are expected to be built on Piccadilly Street, Keate Street, and Colville Street. Morean said they would be part of an ongoing effort to meet national housing needs.

Although he was speaking to stakeholders in the private housing sector, he said the middle class stands to gain from some benefits which the public sector provides.

“There has been a heavy burden to the middle class, who always complain of the burden of taking care of the social programmes in society because of taxes.

"One of the benefits that the middle class has been taking advantage of is housing. In the state sector there is the initiative where, up to a certain value ,you don’t pay stamp duty (duties which need to be paid to be legally recognised as the owner of a home).”

He said that had affected a lot of middle-class people who are trying to afford housing, and there is still a massive shortfall, as more than 180,000 people had applied for public housing.

As a result, he said, "There is room for development by the private sector as well as individual home owners, and it is good to see that in the micro-private sector you have the support companies and bodies and groups that are there to give guidance and support.”

The house and building expo was Trendy Tradeshow Ltd's first trade show. It included the TT Mortgage Finance Co (TTMF), the Trinidad Building and Loan Association, Cadco Design Studio, Pioneer Enterprises, and other companies with solutions to buying, building and renovating homes.

Trendy's marketing communications director, Allyson Mc Morales, said, “The annual housing expo is the ideal platform to educate, inform, to network with each other, to empower the populace in dealing with the major challenges of housing both commercial and domestic, and providing solutions to each challenge.”