Hope on horizon for evicted squatter mom

HOPE appears to be on the horizon for 51-year-old single mother Zeia Flemming and her 11-year-old son who are facing eviction from their one-bedroom shack in a squatter settlement in Pleasantville.

Flemming was given notice since January, by the owner, to leave the shack. And with nowhere to go, she feared she and her son would have ended up on the streets.

However days after her story was published in the Newsday, Flemming said she got a call from the office of San Fernando East MP Randall Mitchell.

She said she had applied to the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) six years ago, but is yet to be called for an interview. Flemming went to the HDC office in San Fernando two weeks ago, but was told to wait until housing is available.

She said she also visited the Court Shamrock Home for Socially Displaced People, but was told that there is no room there.

Flemming said she suffers from high blood pressure and is unable to work for long hours.

She receives a grant from Social Welfare which she uses to support her son and herself.

The shack which the two occupy was built eight years ago from old board and galvanise, and is now falling apart. She said whenever it rains she and her son have to run to the bus shed or the community centre to seek shelter.

Her son recently wrote the Secondary Entrance Assessment exam and will be entering secondary school in the new school term.