$292M for housing in PSIP

Government is allocating approximately $293 million in fiscal 2018, to assist people who need affordable housing and undertake improvements in the country’s housing sector.

This information is contained in the Public Sector Investment Programme (PSIP) 2018 document, which was laid in the House of Representatives by Finance Minister Colm Imbert on Monday.

According to the PSIP, under this sum, $180 million will be allocated under the Accelerated Housing Programme.

This will assist with the construction of new housing units and the acquisition of suitable land or property for the establishment of new housing settlements. Another $20 million will be provided under the Rehabilitation and Maintenance of Housing Development Corporation (HDC) Rental Apartments and Housing Units Programme. A sum of $12 million will be provided to the Housing Ministry in fiscal 2018 for the disbursement of grants, to a maximum of $15,000 each. This will assist underprivileged families who wish to do repairs to their homes.

An allocation of $1 million has been provided under the Emergency Shelter Relief Fund to help families who have experienced sudden, unanticipated and unavoidable emergencies as a result of natural disasters. In fiscal 2018, an allocation of $10 million will be made to the Urban Development Programme and executed by the East Port of Spain Development Company Ltd.

This money will be used for redevelopment plans for communities in East Port of Spain such as Sea Lots/Beetham, Laventille/Trou Macaque and Eastern Quarry. The Land Settlement Agency has been allocated $1.5 million to identify clear boundary lines for squatter communities in Trinidad.

The Tobago House of Assembly has been allocated $36.6 million to develop new housing settlements and refurbish existing housing units in Tobago.

According to the 2018 Draft Estimates of Expenditure, the Housing Ministry’s expenditure for fiscal 2018 will be $1,691,600,504.

In the 2018 Draft Estimates of Recurrent Expenditure, the HDC’s allocation was increased from $636,735,800 in fiscal 2017 to $672,100,000.