Approximately 5,008 housing units are expected to be distributed by the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) between 2014 to 2016.As an early gift to housing applicants, the HDC will give out 1,000 of the 5,008 units for Christmas.
Though the houses will be handed out before, leading up to and after the 2015 general election, Housing Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal said he will not shut down or cut back on the distribution exercise to please the People's National Movement (PNM) since he intends to reduce the 160,000 applicants waiting in line for shelter.
Indicating that the backlog was a worrying concern, Moonilal said he expected the PNM to say the houses will be handed out in time for next year's election to muster votes, "but they can say what the want."
Moonilal said, "The things is, we cannot stop distribution of houses because it is an election year. What do we do? Do we shut down the Government in an election year and say we not giving anybody a housing grant, a house or old age pension. Should we wait after the election? When we talk to people they actually say give us our house now because they don't know if the PNM would come back in power and they would not get any."
In years gone by, Moonilal said, houses were given to individuals who either owned a PNM party card or associated with the political party."Today, if you go to any HDC estate you would see people of every race, colour, religion and class occupying these homes. You would see Hindu and Baptist flags in front of homes. That is something you would have never seen before because people felt they were not being treated equally and fairly."
Sifting through a wad of documents on Wednesday at his Port-of-Spain office, Moonilal gave a breakdown of how his ministry intended to distribute the duplexes, townhouses, apartments and condominiums in the coming months.In the past four years, Moonilal said, HDC has been working to distribute approximately 13,000 units from 53 sites, but managed to give out only 4,500 units.
Delivery, he said, was delayed by a number of factors, mainly lack of installation of water treatment plants and electrification on project sites.Moonilal also claimed that between May and July of this year, the HDC started 15 new housing projects in Arima, Arouca, Union Hall, Princes Town, Couva and Victoria Keyes, which will yield an additional 4,500 units.Two projects–Trestrail Housing Development in Arima, and Indian Trail in Couva, are expected to churn out 1,204 and 920 units respectively.
The duration of the 15 projects ranged from six to 36 months.Of the $2.8 billion that was allocated to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, Moonilal said "we have requested over $1 billion towards HDC's accelerated housing programme drive."Moonilal said the cost of constructing a house had skyrocketed over the last ten years, with an average three-bedroom unit costing $350,000 by the State, and on average $1 million by the private sector.
He said to reduce the list of housing applicants, the HDC will work in partnership with private developers."We are asking the private sector to work with us using their own financing to build houses and the HDC will allocate recipients through the State. So we do not have to build and invest. But we will subsidise the applicant's house."He said the Government will pay the subsidy for the HDC homes as well as provide favourable conditions for private buyers.
"If they get the private sector participation in the next ten to 15 years, the Government can make a big dent in reducing the waiting list."Optimistic that the PP Government would enter their second term in office, Moonilal said the HDC has plans to build units using creative approaches to maximise land space.
How houses were distributed
�2 Between 2011-2012, Moonilal said the HDC gave out 2,688 units.
�2 For 2012 to 2013, a total of 1,977 individuals were recipients of new homes, while in 2013 to 2014 the figure jumped to 2,141.
�2 Moonilal said for 2014 to 2015, an additional 2,280 will become new home owners and by 2015 to 2016 approximately 2,728 units to be handed out.
�2 He said Union Hall will have the largest distribution with 1,080 units over the next two years. Trailing behind is Couva, with 515 units. Enterprise is third with 429.