The Minister of Housing and Urban Renewal, the Hon. Keith Bell commented on several housing challenges in the country while visiting the ZNS Studios this week.
Speaking about the government rental properties Bell said, “when Sir Lynden came up with the concept the idea was that you would move in to a government rental unit for a period at which time you would accumulate your down payment and your would move out into your own home, that was the idea and the concept. However, we all know that there are second and third generations of persons living in these rental units. We also know that there is constant challenges with its upkeep and that is something that we are currently reviewing in the ministry. And I don’t, again, want to say too much but I do believe that we’re gonna have to take a different approach in respect to several of those units. The one at Sutton Street and the one particularly at Windsor Lane called the Big Yard. And so it is anticipated that in the new year, God spear life, that you’re gonna see a change in respect to those complexes. We are in the process of renovating. We are in the process of ensuring that persons who live in them are cared for and that they are habitable and they are tenantable and we want to ensure that the persons who are in them that they may be the recipients of our rent to own program.”
The Minister said ensuring that housing is affordable needs the most attention. “As you would appreciate, the war in Ukraine and all of the other issues, the recession that the world has gone through, material crisis, building material has gone up. And even though labour has gone up, it has not gone up as much as the material cost. But the idea is to ensure that a person entering the public services as a teacher, as a police officer, as a dentist, as a Defence Force officer that they are able to afford a home on their salary.”
Minister Bell has had charge of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Renewal since September of this year.
