Let us own homes too!
This is the cry from Hazel Smith, member of the "Is we" community group, an organisation focused on improving the living conditions of residents of east Port-of-Spain.
The residents, most of whom have lived in the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) apartments in the capital city for as long as 70 years, said a conversation needs to take place between the Government and residents on the management of the units and enabling residents to own the units, for which they have paid a $100-monthly rental fee for several decades.
Last month, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley sent a stern warning to real estate owners that the State would no longer be forking out millions of taxpayers' money to rent dilapidated buildings.
Rowley told owners the Government had reached the end of the line and urged businessmen to instead build proper buildings and affordable homes to encourage people to live in the city.
Residents, however, are concerned with the state of the housing already in the city and what they describe as a neglectful management style by the HDC.
Sitting in her home, Smith, a community activist, who has spent most of her life in her family's Duncan Street apartment, said the HDC had badly neglected the apartment buildings.
The city then
Smith was born in Port-of-Spain General Hospital, and was brought, as a baby, to the apartment on Duncan Street.
Then, there were no walls separating the buildings, only well-maintained green hedges forming paths in between the buildings and lining the roads.
The people living there, mostly of African descent now, were largely a mixed group of Chinese, East Indians, Syrians and Africans.
"It was nice, everything was normal.
"It wasn't idyllic. There was still crime and gangs in the city, though the names have changed. Instead of Rasta City and Muslims, in the 1960s, there were Silk Hats and Apple Jackers. Instead of guns, there were knife and fist fights. Gangsters didn't try to evict residents from their homes."
Recently, the crime has decreased on the streets, possibly as a result of a police post established there in 2013.
Still, the area has a bad reputation, with tourists and locals being warned to stay away or be extra cautious.
There have been many calls and proposals to re-energise the capital city from business owners, former mayors and politicians, but residents said they must play a part.
residents want to own buildings
"We want ownership of the buildings, because we have paid for 70 years for a building, when will you stop? When will you ever stop paying rent? It's been 70 years and it is time that I believe we become owners of the building. We can manage it, we can make it a co-operative and we can manage it," Smith said.
Asked why she hadn't explored options of ownership in another location, as the units had always been rentals, Smith was adamant about remaining.
"We have people who have lived here that long, the Bernards and the Tang Nyangs upstairs. Will we pay for this forever and ever? We have to have ownership of it.
"Everybody has the option of living where they want to. People like to tell you, you have to go where they want. I don't want to live in Ellerslie Park. I don't want to live in Goodwood Park, I don't want to live anywhere else but here, where I was born. It's that simple and there is nothing wrong with that."
The idea of owning the units was proposed by former housing minister Dr Roodal Moonilal to residents during a walkabout in the area, following a fire in 2010. The offer was repeated by now Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar during her election campaign in 2015, when she offered to sell the units to renters for $100.
"This is something we are asking this Government to look at because we feel that this is feasible and mind you we have a lot of confidence in Dr Rowley.
"He was the first person that ever came into this community and did something after we had been rebelling for some time. He came and he built Clifton Towers, he was minister of housing then and he took an interest."
hdc responsibility
The HDC is responsible for maintenance repairs, though several residents said they rarely ever saw any significant work and often took care of issues themselves.
Councillor for the area, Dada Aswad Gabriel, said since he was elected in 2013, he had put forward many proposals for the refurbishing of apartments on Duncan, Nelson and George Streets.
Most of the proposals looked at upgrading roofing and electrical wiring.
"The wiring in the building and outside the building needs to be changed, the boxes need to be outfitted to modern technology. When this is pointed out to HDC, they say call T&TEC. Then T&TEC says HDC has to do the work, so people are stuck with faulty wiring."
Gabriel said there was a piping issue, where apartments on upper floors could not get water.
"Residents called WASA (Water and Sewerage Authority) and WASA said it is an HDC problem."
He said there were a number of other issues including leaking roofs.
The wooden window panes in several apartments are being devoured by termites and wood lice, and recent upgrade programmes have been limited to slapping paint on buildings with no internal repairs or upgrades.
"We need to bring the area back to a decent community, the crime rate has gone down. Since 2013 there has been a decrease in murders," Gabriel said.
"There are a lot of working people here, too. People who live in this community go to work every day. They have children who pass exams for QRC and CIC and Bishops, there are hard-working people here. They deserve to live well. They are decent people."