TENS of thousands of working class Guyanese are now proud home owners, as a result of Government’s national housing programme. With subsidies worth billions of dollars towards providing infrastructure support, over 200 squatter settlements have been transformed into housing schemes with beautifully built homes.

From cramped one-room dwellings in what can be described as hazardous conditions, families are now accommodated in spacious homes.

The PPP/C Government, in 1992, met a very poor housing sector; many people were living under very bad conditions and rents were very high. During that time, one of the big cries of the people was for housing, and many resorted to squatting, living under poor conditions, without any kind of facilities.

Subsequently, the PPP/C Administration sought to implement programmes that were aimed at having Guyanese elevating their standard of living; one of which was the national housing drive, and today over 112,000 Guyanese own a home under this programme.
During the 6th edition of ‘At Home with the President’, Mr. Donald Ramotar explained that the Government’s first priority was to facilitate the low income people by a system of cross subsidisation.
“We sold some front lands and retired the sugar estate lands more into the backlands, and sold some front lands to some of the middle and higher income people for development, and used that together with Government’s money to cross subsidise and develop house lots, so that ordinary low income people could have afforded to get their own house lots…that is how the whole housing drive was launched, and that has gone a very far way now…,” President Ramotar pointed out.

LOW MORTGAGE RATES

The next step was to deal with the issue of high interest rates from the bank, which was 30% around 1992. Today, citizens can enjoy an affordable interest rate, as low as 4.3% and as a result, persons have been able to build their own homes. The banks are also lending more money and having faster turn over.
One of the things the government has done, to ensure people were able to access loans from banks to build their homes, was to have the lands used as collateral.
Legislations were also put in place to facilitate first time home owners, “so one of the legislations was kind of a rebate for mortgage interest rate which was passed in 2013; so now a lot of people are applying for that… I think it is very positive, because it helps in many ways and eases tension of overcrowding which causes problems within families, and so we have reduced that considerably, to allow more and more people to have their separate homes,” President Ramotar said.

HUGE DEMAND
Because of the huge demand for housing, the Government initiated the ‘One Stop Shop’ initiative in 2009. This initiative has given significant impetus to the distribution process. It serves as a vehicle for fast-tracking the process of house lots, their distribution, and accessing loans.

Meanwhile, the Government’s turn-key homes, which range between $4.6M to $14M, continue to pave the way for more persons, especially young people, to have access to their own home at a low cost. Today, the average home owner is below the age of 35.

There is also the ‘re-migrant scheme’, which caters for overseas Guyanese who want to return to their homeland. The lands set aside for these groups are over-subscribed.

Over the past two years, focus was also placed on upgrading the main access roads to asphaltic concrete in the housing schemes, in particular the interlinking of the various schemes, to reduce traffic congestion and travel time, and improving living standard.

HINTERLAND HOUSING

Residents of hinterland areas have not been excluded from the national housing programme: more than 600 residents benefited from the Second Low Income Settlement (LIS), a $40M programme, initiated by the Housing Ministry in collaboration with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), to address the housing needs in the hinterland.

In Region One, the communities targeted were White Water, Manawarin and Oronoque, while Region Nine communities included Kwatamang, Central Annai, Massara, Katoka and Apoteri.
According to the President, this programme is a “spin off,” in that not only are persons accessing their own homes, but it also allows for job creation.

NEW HOUSING SCHEMES

Plans are afoot to build new housing areas where state-of-the-art housing infrastructure will be built; more social facilities for the people such as play grounds, recreational facilities, schools, health facilities or full blown hospitals, and malls and gas station among other key facilities.
The President also highlighted Government’s plans to build a new city (Silica City) on the Linden-Soesdyke Highway. However, he said it will take a lot of planning, because jobs are to be created for people so as not to travel far to get to work.
“We will be putting down a Call Centre at Tuschen which will create jobs for over 900 persons, and a similar call centre in Enmore to employ another 900 persons,” the President further explained. Plans are also on-stream to establish a factory to make plantain chips in Wakenaam and Leguan to create employment for the residents.

MOVING HOUSING DEVELOPMENT

The availability of land in the urban areas is becoming less; hence the need for land to be developed in the rural areas.
President Ramotar noted that the Government is currently working on developing the infrastructure in those urban areas to make them safer, and much more comfortable, for persons to live. Government will be building the roads in the West Bank and the Canals Number One and Two. The construction of the new bridge across the Demerara River will also assist in this regard.
The new highway on the West Coast of Demerara, from Parika to Vreed-en-Hoop, is also another initiative to allow for quicker, more efficient but safe use of the road. This will also cut travel time between Parika and Vreed-en-Hoop by about 20%.
Government is also looking at opening new lands, both for meeting the housing needs and agriculture purposes. A similar project will be done in the Corentyne, to develop the road from Crabwood Creek to Orealla.

ACCESSING LANDS

The Government will also be looking at ways to increase access to lands, especially for the young professionals. This initiative will seek to provide an incentive for young university graduates to pursue higher learning, and subsequently provide them with lands to build their own homes. Plans will also be put in place to address the time it takes to access lands. (GINA feature)