Last minute rush for new housing programme

There's a local saying that, “’Trinis’ like to wait until the last-minute to do things.” A new housing programme proved no exception to this, as a significant number of the nearly 5,000 applications received were submitted within the last two weeks.

Housing Ministry staff worked until 9.30 pm on Friday at the HDC Village Plaza in Couva, processing the applications of 1,200 people for Government’s Aided Self-Help Housing Programme. Speaking with Sunday Newsday, a ministry official said, “On the last day, thousands flocked to the application venue, with some arriving as early as 5 am.”

“An estimated 800 applicants who possessed numbers as at the close of application on Friday, were invited to return today, Saturday, to complete the submission of application forms and documents.” Interested citizens had eight weeks, from November 20, 2017 to this past Friday, to submit applications.

The programme is designed to help two broad categories of people. Those who have land but don’t know where to start with constructing a house, and those who want land on which to build their own home. Although the plaza is not located in the middle of a major town or city, the official said it was chosen, “because it provided ample parking and was available to the ministry free of charge for the during of the application period.”

Applications were received there from 8 am to 3 pm from Monday to Friday and Saturdays from 9 am to 1 pm during the eight-week application period. The official told Newsday, “Despite the wide window of opportunity within which to apply, many interested families waited until the last two weeks to apply.”

A total of 4, 950 completed and validated applications were submitted between November 20 last year and January 13 this year. “Completed and validated means that they have submitted all the required documents and their application was reviewed by a Client Relations representative and the applicant was issued with a receipt,” the Housing Ministry official said.