Housing Minister Randall Mitchell says he regrets 'steupsing' after Mary Paria, a homeless woman, shouted to him, "Ah living in the hospital. Ah want ah house," while he was at the San Fernando General Hospital on July 2.
Mitchell said he was sorry over the incident during an interview following yesterday's sod-turning ceremony for a housing project at River Runs Through, Arima By-Pass Road, Arima.
He said the incident happened while he was informing the nation, via a media interview, of the passing of former prime minister Patrick Manning at the hospital and he was in an emotional state.
Recalling the incident, Randall said: "It fell to me to announce to the national community that Mr Manning had indeed passed and I did that through the media. Obviously it was a very emotional time."
Noting it was Manning who brought him into politics, he said it was during the interview that "she (Mary) made an outburst requesting houses. And at the moment in time, having regard to my grief, I responded in a way that I now regret."
He admitted: "I did 'steups'. I turned and I 'steupsed'."
He conceded, however, that such action "was out of place. I thought it was a poor sense of occasion. So I regret it now."
Mitchell, who replaced Manning as San Fernando East MP after the former served for 44 years, said as minister he received numerous requests from citizens for houses "all the time." He said Paria was "well known to us in San Fernando" and "notwithstanding my regrettable response, we have been assisting her.
"Our investigations into Mary (shows that) she did receive, not one but two housing allocations, adding she subsequently "left both voluntarily."
He said further investigations must be done to determine what happened since a greater social intervention was needed "and we are discussing that with other ministries to see where the State's social safety net can come into play and really assist her."
Mitchell again said he really regretted the incident "because a minister should not respond in that way but having regard to the circumstances I did respond in that way."
He then said while he was apologising to her via the media he intended to do so directly as soon as he found her.
Earlier, in addressing the gathering after turning the sod for the project, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said demand for houses still outstripped the supply and the availability of land was even more challenging now than before.
In an apparent reference to the incident involving the homeless woman, Rowley said: "It has reached the point now where people are saying "I want a house and my MP isn't giving me a house.' Just in the same tone and approach of 'I want a hops bread. We have a bag of hops bread and I want one.'"
He said people were failing to realise that a house was an expensive item. (See page A15)