Over $3.5m awarded in home repair grants

MINISTER of Social Development and Family Services Donna Cox distributed home repair grants to 15 of 221 successful applicants at City Hall, Knox Street, Port of Spain on September 11. Cox said $3.5 million had been spent on the programme for 2024 to date.

Cox said 224 applications or 800 people had benefited from the house repair programme. Cox told the recipients the government recognised home repair could be difficult for a number of reasons.

“Many families do not have the money to repair their houses that may have been damaged during a natural disaster or simply due to age, and deterioration that occurred through the continuous exposure to weather conditions, poor maintenance, improper ventilation, high humidity, sub-standard building material and so on.”

She said the ministry’s National Social Development Programme Unit has the core function to improve the standard of living conditions of citizens of Trinidad and Tobago by providing basic infrastructure for essential utility services. She said the unit offered three different kinds of assistance.

Minor house repair assistance gives up to $15,000 in materials only for the repair/upgrade of dwelling houses and up to $20,000 in materials only to effect repairs/upgrades in the event of a disaster.

Sanitary plumbing assistance gives up to $15,000 in materials only under normal circumstances and in the event of a disaster for the repair or upgrade.

House-wiring assistance assists with the wiring or rewiring of dwelling houses under normal circumstances, and in the event of a disaster, that has affected the electrical wiring of the house.

She said in total, the grants being distributed on September 11 were: $2,338,226.50 for minor house repairs; $570,111,80 in sanitary plumbing assistance; and $496,459.22 in house wiring assistance.

Cox said the programme sought to specifically target the poor and vulnerable groups in society, including, but not limited to senior citizens, people with disabilities, the unemployed, victims of domestic violence and single-parent households.

“It has proven to be an instrumental component of the ministry’s plan to ensure that poor and vulnerable citizens throughout the country reside under habitable conditions.”

Steve Warrick, 64, from D’Abadie, said he was grateful for the grant.

“My home was gutted from fire in May last year. It was really a challenge. It is a good thing the ministry and them are doing, because it helped me to do things like electrical and repairs. They gave me some of the grants which I utilised fully. With this additional grant, I will be able to complete my repairs and I feel very comforted.”

A woman said she was a fire victim over two years ago.

“It was a long wait, and I very much appreciate it.”

Speaking to the media after the ceremony, Cox addressed the challenges of ensuring people did not try to obtain grants under false pretences.

“We have been implementing checks and balances over the past year. We work through invoices. We ask people to sign agreements.

“Some challenges are normal, like receiving incomplete information, or people may not be truthful about their situation. We have hired additional staff to be able to do investigations.

“It’s difficult when there is something like a big flooding disaster, because we have to work together with the Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government and we take the information from their disaster management officers.”

Cox said she was elated that many of the recipients were happy to receive the grants.

“Our mandate is to help, and we really need to help and empower people. Many people are grateful, and we feel for them, because when our field officers go out and see their situation, they cannot help but feel it could have been them or their families. Therefore we try to assist as much as we possibly can.”

She said the Rural Development and Local Government Ministry acted as a first responder and would pass the information on to her ministry.

Cox said the time for someone to receive a grant could vary, depending on whether the applicant submitted incomplete information or if the ministry needed to do an investigation to confirm their application.