Many Guyanese financing home construction without bank loans –Habitat for Humanity
Marlon Bristol, a consultant with Habitat for Humanity, and Director of Habitat for Humanity Guyana, Rawle Small
Marlon Bristol, a consultant with Habitat for Humanity, and Director of Habitat for Humanity Guyana, Rawle Small

HABITAT for Humanity (Guyana) on Tuesday last held a public forum on the emerging evidence from Guyana on access to affordable housing finance and its impact on breaking the cycle of poverty.Habitat undertakes a housing programme every year, whereby they assist less fortunate persons to obtain affordable housing. Additionally, since 1995, they have assisted more than 5,000 individuals to acquire their own homes.

Each year, the NGO (Non-Governmental Organisation) assists approximately 500 less fortunate families, some of whom will receive new homes or have repairs done on their homes. Habitat’s National Director, Rawle Small, explained that when looking at housing, one has to look at all the other surrounding factors, noting that: “It could affect education because of improper spaces for children to study, it can affect their performance at school, likewise health, if substandard materials are used, if you don’t have proper ventilation, for example if you are living too close to a dumpsite, these can affect your health.”
He also noted that studies have shown that when families are in adequate living space, family interaction tends to improve, so children and parents spend more time together. Therefore housing is a critical aspect of development, not just from an economic point of view, but also from a human development point of view.
The organisation conducted a study with questionnaires being distributed to random persons in randomly chosen areas. The report focused on critical issues pertaining to affordability and access to finance in the housing sector.Marlon Bristol, a consultant with the organisation, was tasked with compiling and analysing the relevant information. Bristol related during an interview that the focus of the research was done within two sectors of housing: accessibility and affordability and the emerging findings from the research.
According to the consultant, the definition that was used during the research was “the poor which we defined as low- income households where people locally earn at or below $60,000 monthly.” While conducting the research via questionnaires, he noted that “we found that a lot of those who own their own home are doing so by cash, which means they are using alternative approaches to fund the building of their homes. Only about 30% or less of those who own their own homes in the study were found to have taken a formal loan.”
He related that the research was conducted in Regions 3, Essequibo Islands-West Demerara);4, (Demerara-Mahaica); 5,(Mahaica-Berbice); and 10 (Upper Demerara-Upper Berbice). “Thirty per cent of the villages in Habitat’s database amounted to 13 communities where a minimum of 30 questionnaires per communities were done,” Bristol added.
The finding, Bristol explained, suggests that Guyana has not begun to explore many of the available international best practices to expand affordable housing and accessible finance, notwithstanding many improvements in the low- income housing sector.
In fact, the housing sector has been a key pillar of growth in the economy. Two critical observations, he concluded, from the evidence gathered are the progressive housing and micro-finance, insurance and other guarantees, and the creation of an affordable housing stock so first-time buyers in the future market have economic space.

 

 

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