50,000 applicants for NHA houses

Government plans to bring a Condominium Act to the Parliament soon, Housing Minister Dr Keith Rowley said Tuesday. The Act will deal with persons who build and live in condominiums. He was speaking in the Senate during the Budget debate. “With respect to the Condominium Act, very soon we expect to have a look at it. Because of the shortage of land space in the area where there is the greatest demand, we have to maximise the use of lands so we cannot afford to build single storey bungalows for persons in the East/West Corridor. Land is just too expensive and therefore we have to be more efficient. Therefore, the Condominium Act will come into play. Very soon you will hear something about that,” Rowley said. The minister also revealed that close to 40 percent of the applicants for NHA homes want to live somewhere in the Tunapuna/Piarco area.

In giving the Senate a breakdown of where 50,000 people who applied to NHA, wanted to live, Rowley said 12 per cent of the applicants wanted to live in Princes Town; eight percent in Siparia; seven percent in Couva/ Tabaquite/Talparo; six percent in San Fernando; six percent in Diego Martin; five percent in the Sangre Grande area; five percent in Arima; three percent in the Laventille area; two percent in Port-of-Spain and one percent in Point Fortin. Rowley said Government planned to build 8,045 units in 2004/2005. NHA will build 6,336 under the NHA programme; UdeCOTT 947 and the Sugar Industry and Labour Welfare Committee 50. Rowley also gave the Senate the age profile and the earning profile of the NHA applicants. He said about 30,000 of NHA’s 50,000 applicants were persons under the age of 39. Another 15,000 were between 40-60 years.

In terms of the income profile, 65 percent of the 50,000 were earning less than $4,000, which in today’s economy, was low income; while one-third of the applicants were earning between $4,000 and $9,000. In fact, six per cent were persons earning less than $1,000 a month; 16 percent were earning between $1,000 and $2,000; 26 percent were earning between $2,000 and $3,000; 17 percent earning between $3,000 and $4,000. Rowley said while the PNM saw the provision of housing as a national need, there were those (in the UNC) who only saw how the beneficiaries of the housing programme would vote. Rowley said while economy and earning capacities have improved, the demand for housing had grown, far outstripping the supply, resulting in the unavailability and the unaffordability of even a modest rental unit. Rowley said the ministry was aiming at building 7,000 a year for ten years and thereafter 3,000 units per year. “We do have the ability now; we do have better financial circumstances in the country to tackle this problem once and for all,” he stated.

Noting there were a series of social problems associated with poor housing, Rowley said, “There are thousands of families living in conditions that you would not want to see. Those of us who represent people in constituencies, we see it first-hand and we know the impact that the National Housing programme will have on ameliorating or eliminating the effects of poor housing in Trinidad and Tobago.” Rowley said that when the PNM took the position there was a major role for the State in the construction of houses. Stressing that the programme was nationwide and Government was not focussing on certain areas for political purpose, as was alleged by the Opposition, the minister said, “You only have to be there to see the satisfaction and pleasure on the faces of those young couples when they receive their keys to know that this public policy is positively impacting on the lives of people of Trinidad and Tobago,” he said.