1,000 homes for Christmas

They were the first 68 of 1,000 that Housing Minister Randall Mitchell promised will be distributed to families before Christmas.

“As Minister of Housing and Urban Development, I have challenged the HDC and told them that between now and Christmas Day, we are going to house 1,000 families. We are going to distribute 1,000 homes before Christmas, starting today,” said Mitchell to the resounding applause of the grateful recipients.

Mitchell said as new homeowners begin purchasing furniture and appliances to outfit their houses from locally owned businesses, it will redound positively into the economy. The 68 families received keys to houses in Cypress Heights, Eden Gardens, Oasis Gardens, Fairfield Gardens and Pier View.

In 2014, the former People’s Partnership administration, had a similar 1,000 homes for Christmas drive under then Housing Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal, currently the Member of Parliament for Oropouche East.

Not all of the houses to be distributed are spanking new, however.

Some of them have been vandalized after being left unoccupied for some time. Mitchell said many persons expressed their desire to take the houses “as is” from the HDC, and as such the HDC has started asking potential recipients whether they are willing to accept homes with “minor” issues including those with plumbing leaks and unpainted . “The HDC will indicate these are units that are available and when they do their walk-through they will notice that there are some defects. The home-owner at that stage has to sign where they accept or they reject and it might be that the home-owner may accept.” On a slightly less joyous note, Mitchell urged those receiving their keys to take care of their houses and to keep up-to-date with their monthly payments. Speaking with the media after the ceremony, Mitchell said non-payment of monthly payments are a “major problem” affecting the HDC’s revenue stream.

“Some people because of the state of the economy, perhaps because of job loss they may not be able to do that, they will indicate that to the HDC and we at the HDC are compassionate, we are understanding,” said Mitchell. “We can come up with some arrangement for those persons.” He explained that sometimes homes are allocated to persons without all the developmental approvals