Govt hands out 1,200 houses

Minister of Housing and Urban Development Randall Mitchell yesterday disclosed Government distributed 1,200 HDC units this year and constructed several community parks in HDC developments despite financial restraints.

Some of the parks, he said, were completed in Gomez Trace Phase 1, Tarodale, Pleasantville, Corinth Hills, Orchid Gardens, Lisas Gardens, Bourg Mulatresse, and Harmony Hall. “We deem the construction of these parks as important because we believe that open spaces allow for the development of our children’s motor skills, provide an environment for meaningful interaction and help to reduce anti-social behaviour.”

He made the statement at a housing distribution ceremony for units at Carlsen Field, Chaguanas; Trestrail Farms, D’Abadie; Fairfield, Princes Town; Oasis Greens, Chaguanas; and Cypress Gardens, San Fernando this morning at NAPA. There, 124 packages which would allow recipients to finalise their mortgages and then receive their keys, were distributed. This included 48 for members of the protective services.

Mitchell said 174,000 people applied for Government housing solutions so his ministry was working hard to increase the number of available housing units even with scarce financial resources.

He said, through the Accelerated Housing Programme, the ministry and the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) started new developments at Corinth, San Fernando; Gomez Trace, Moruga; Harmony Hall, Gasparillo; and Trestrail Lands, D’abadie. They also resumed work on previously stalled projects including Real Springs Development in Valsayn; Vieux Fort in St James; Carlsen Field; Malabar; Lake View in Point Fortin; and Bon Air North, Arouca.

One recipient, Marcia Wells, 58, of Port of Spain, is expected to move into a unit in Carlsen Field with her daughter and three grandchildren. She said she applied for a HDC house three times, the first time over 20 years ago. “I could have done pay for a house long time but say what, I’m happy. After all those years I still can’t believe it.”

Her grandson, Akel Alexander, 11, was very excited about the allocation and said he wanted to move in right away. “We will be getting a new house to start a new life and to be happy,” he said.

Speaking to members of the media after the event, HDC managing director, Brent Lyons, said, “Over the last two years we have made magic with the little that we have. We have continued to pay contractors, continued to keep staff employed, continued to start new projects, restarted old projects... We have been doing a lot with a lot less.”

This included paying off some of the Government’s debt to contractors. Lyons said the last HDC board met a $800 million debt, but they had paid contractors between $300 million and $400 million over the past two years. However, with new projects, the debt was still about $700 million.

Mitchell added that contractors had been partnering with them, and was understanding as they recognised the Government’s financial difficulties.

He said over the years the HDC inadvertently chased out the private sector developers when it came to providing middle to upper-middle income housing of HDC applicants.

He said with tax incentives and the $100,000 incentive announced in the last budget, the private sector seemed ready to partner with them.

He said there were a number of projects that were ready to start but they were waiting on final details and approvals from the Ministry of Finance before being launched.