Contract workers, self-employed should be eligible for gov’t housing

FIFTY families received the packages for their new homes at Nepuyo Court, Malabar, last Wednesday, during a housing distribution ceremony held by the Housing Ministry and the Housing Development Corporation (HDC).

The project was supposed to produce 94 three-bedroom, two- and-a-half bath townhouse units. To date, 50 units have been completed, with 25 to be completed by the end of October.

This project, which was awarded to BK Hardware Ltd for 50 units, was scheduled to be completed in 12 months. In September 2011, the HDC terminated that contract for breach of duty, poor workmanship, substandard quality of work and abandonment of the site. The work was about 60 per cent complete.

HDC chairman Newman George could not say how much the contract was worth, but said $423,000 was spent to retrofit each unit to bring it up to standard. BK was not invited to tender for any more projects, he said, because shoddy work would not be tolerated.

D’abadie/O’Meara MP Brig Ancil Antoine said people were looking for low-cost, affordable housing, but unfortunately some did not qualify for the mortgage.

He said there needed to be a shift in the paradigm of who qualified for government houses, and not only people who held permanent employment should be given approval, but also contract employees and self-employed business people.

Permanent employment did not always mean profitable employment, he said, and small businesspeople had much to offer, but people did not understand the dynamics. “A nail technician, who is self employed, can make $15,000-$20,000 a month, while a bank employee makes $7,500, but only the bank employee qualifies for a mortgage for a house.”

He said it was because those who were permanently employed had the relevant paper trail to show their savings and their ability to make their payments.

Antoine also said commercial enterprises could be established at HDC housing if the ground floors were built for commercial use so people could pay their mortgages.

His one piece of advice to the new homeowners was not to change the environment into “a ghetto,” as their homes were valuable investments.

Housing Minister Edmund Dillon said when one had the keys to their own home, it was a feeling of independence.

He said with the concern expressed by residents after last week’s earthquake and the damage to an HDC community in Rio Claro, there was a renewed call for a national building code to be put in place, and the developments constructed by the HDC in the last few years were in accordance with international standards.

Dillon said Government has encouraged the use of small to medium contractors on the various construction projects to avoid a monopoly of just a few contractors.

“This provides an opportunity for them to develop their businesses while ensuring they deliver quality, structurally sound work on each and every project. It also allows us to keep costs down, thereby making home ownership more affordable.”

He also urged all home owners to uphold their financial obligations to the HDC and TT Mortgage Finance so that the HDC could use this money to construct other developments.