Undeniably, housing development is one of the success stories under the current government which on assumption to office in 1992 embarked on an aggressive housing programme to meet the huge demand for house lots which stemmed mainly from the previous government’s neglect of the housing sector. In fact, it actually closed the doors of the Housing Ministry and the poorer sections of the society could not access land to build their homes as only high priced private lands were available and therefore only the rich and well to do could have afforded to purchase lands to construct their houses.

As a result of the neglect of the housing sector, house rents soared putting the working class under severe financial burden and at the same time squatting began along many areas on the coast.

Under the previous government there was one major housing initiative launched which turned out to be a miserable failure, and that was under the infamous Food, Clothes and House (FCH) 1972-1976 development plan appropriately dubbed the “Fool, Hoax and Cochore” plan under which 65,000 housing units should have been built but at the end of 1976 only 13,000 units were built and from thereon it was a virtual goodbye to housing development under that government.

One of the remarkable achievements on this administration through its housing policy and programmes is that it was able to regularise scores of squatter settlements through a humane approach and bring them on board to the legal housing establishment. Consequently, those who had occupied the lands became the owners and received land titles which enabled them to procure loans if they so needed to build their houses.

But it is not that the government has been just issuing house lots. It has been engaging with several international and local institutions to provide help for the low-income groups which may find it financially prohibitive to build their houses because prices of building materials have increased appreciably over the years.

And most recently the government has extended the preferential tax treatment to commercial banks with the aim of reducing interest rates so that an increased number of potential home owners could afford loans to build their houses.

President Jagdeo assured that this is so “because we want every family in this country to own their own home.

He also recently acknowledged the phenomenal growth in the housing sector, declaring that it has been a success story for the administration.

He admitted it is impossible for many people to own homes and said, “if there is one success story that we have had, it is the phenomenal growth in the housing sector since we assumed office.”

He asserted that Guyana is expanding its housing stock when some countries are losing theirs and people are now moving from home owners to the street or having to rent.

The President cited the United States where, he said, some ten million people have lost their homes.

In addition, the government has been incrementally improving living conditions in the scores of new housing schemes across the country through the building of roads and other infrastructure, installation of water and electricity, etc.

Only recently a new $55M water supply system was installed for the Diamond/Grove community whereby some 4,000 residents will benefit.

Yet we have some naysayers in our midst who keep repeating their mantras of doom and attempt to paint a picture of nothing positive happening. And like the Nazi propaganda master Josef Goebbels they hope to convince people by using the principle of the bigger the lie and the more often it is repeated the more likely it is to be believed.

However, the records speak for themselves as today thousands of Guyanese have titles to their lands and are proud owners and this is due largely to the housing policy and programmes implemented by this government which has resulted in over 100,000 house lots being distributed. In almost every administrative region of this country new housing schemes have been springing up.

Anyone who denies that housing development has not been a success story certainly needs to pay an urgent visit to the psychiatrist.