Dwelling on a point

HOUSING Minister Pennelope Beckles’s disclosure that $130 million is owed to the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) by people lucky enough to have received one of its units brings home a simple point.

The State needs a new approach.

The HDC was built to help citizens put roofs over their heads. But it is no secret it has fallen short. Housing stock has not kept up. And demand has skyrocketed because real estate has become prohibitively costly for most. That’s set to continue, given recent convulsions in the construction industry caused by steel-price hikes.

In this context, it has not been edifying to see the HDC regularly squabbling with the people it is meant to serve. At various points, it has been caught up in disputes with residents, come under criticism for its standards and even faced litigation from its former employees.

Monday’s “key distribution” at Marabella featuring the minister was therefore a welcome change in tone. It involved 56 recipients and a project that has a total of 102 townhouse units.

Even so, Ms Beckles’s statement about the debt owned to the HDC was a reminder of the gap that has opened up between the HDC and the people it serves. (HDC managing director Noel Garcia offered an olive branch by asking delinquent homeowners to “come in” and talk with HDC officials.)

The gap was perhaps underlined by the name of the project that was at the centre of Monday’s exercise: Lexus Villas.

That the HDC has taken great liberty with its mandate of helping “low- and middle-income” earners get homes is no secret; that it continues to struggle to collect rent even after a lengthy application process, which presumably includes means testing and other criteria, is a surprise.

It is time to demolish and rebuild from scratch. Wealthier clients could help the HDC fund more houses. But that is no reason to prioritise people who can already help themselves.

We could also do without false starts such as the problematic Las Alturas and Greenvale projects.

If the HDC is to meet its stated mandate of delivering 8,000 houses a year it needs to empower citizens to come up with their own housing starts.

At a time when the world is reconsidering the nature of urban landscapes and embracing environmental sustainability, there is something to be said for movements such as the “tiny house” movement, as well as smart approaches that make good use of or repurpose existing structures.

The dysfunctional town and country planning system, too, which is often seen as an impediment to more creative construction solutions, should be addressed, as should land-title problems. Currently, the system shelters massive real-estate developers and leaves the small man high and dry – or, as in the case of missteps like Greenvale, low and wet.