HDC apartments on Monday

ALMOST one week after they were forced to flee their homes and watch their lives work swept into the ocean, Cedros residents will receive keys to Housing Development Corporation apartments where they will be relocated. Eight families lost their homes in Bamboo Village, Cedros due to coastal erosion. A large part of the roadway was also destroyed.

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley visited the area on Thursday along with Housing Minister Randall Mitchell, where the offer of temporary housing was made. In an interview with Newsday, Mitchell said the process to provide emergency temporary housing for the Cedros residents initiated the day after the event. The families were contacted yesterday and will receive their keys on Monday.

He said social workers from the HDC went to Cedros, where they interviewed and assessed the families whose homes were destroyed by coastal erosion. Mitchell said the social workers made a determination on whether the families qualified for temporary housing and the Lake View Development was identified and an offer was made but this was initially refused as the families opted to stay with their family members until further notice as they were interested in a more permanent solution.

Cedros councilor Shankar Teelucksingh said there are 12 more families awaiting word on whether they too should evacuate. “We are just awaiting word from the Coastal Erosion Unit in their report to determine whether we should start evacuating the other families before their homes start to crumble,” he said.

Teelucksingh said the report was supposed to be handed over to the Fire Services yesterday but up until 5pm, he had not been given any feedback.