Through equal opportunity…
THE right to adequate shelter is one of the key human rights upheld by the United Nations and, with the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, the right to adequate housing became a universally accepted Human Rights law. In recognition of the importance of this, Guyana is party to several human rights conventions and in pursuit of making housing affordable and accessible to all Guyanese.
Consequently, over the past years, in pursuance of Government’s policy and its statutory mandate to make housing affordable and accessible to low income earners, the Ministry of Housing and the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) have implemented a number of policies.
The Government’s interventions sought to divest land to eligible Guyanese, provide infrastructure for new housing schemes and improve and regularize existing squatter settlements and grant security of tenure to allotees in both the formal and informal settlements.
In addition, there has been easy access to finance by low income earners, through amendments to The New Building Society Act and the Income Tax Act, in 2000, which included the issuing of the ‘Letter of Assurance’, by the Minister of Housing, to be used for processing mortgages, in lieu of land titles.
The promulgated legislation also provided for qualified mortgage finance institutions to grant housing loans at relatively lower interest rates and longer repayment periods, making access to financing affordable to low income householders, who can borrow $3M to construct a two-bedroom house and repay at 4.95 percent interest over 20 years.
To facilitate its objective, the Ministry of Housing also resuscitated the ‘One Stop Shop’ approach, in 2009, expanding and extending that community outreach to the Administrative Regions, by taking the services to the communities.
That initiative involved active collaboration and participation of the CH&PA and Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI), the lending institutions, private developers and construction companies.
Exercises
Twelve One Stop Shop exercises were conducted in 2009 in Regions Two (Pomeroon/Supenaam), Three (Essequibo Islands/West Demerara), Four (Demerara/Mahaica), Five (Mahaica/Berbice), Six (East Berbice/Corentyne), Seven (Cuyuni/Mazaruni), Nine (Upper Takutu/Upper Essequibo) and Ten (Upper Demerara/Berbice) and the number increased to 15 in 2010.
The delivery, by the Housing Ministry, in terms of allocation of lots to low, moderate and middle income earners over the past five years, was 18,268, which, ultimately, benefitted 73,000 persons countrywide, by providing the asset required for the construction of shelter for families.
In a further effort to address issues of affordable and sustainable housing for all Guyanese, the Ministry introduced the ‘Core House Pilot’ project, aimed at improving occupancy level in targeted schemes.
Through this programme, ‘Starter Homes’ were constructed, with the objective of improving the quality of life of low income families, by not only issuing house lots but providing, as well, greater access to housing.
To make this possible, the Government of Guyana secured funding from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) under the Second Low Income Settlement Programme (LIS2), which is a follow-up to the First Low Income Settlement Programme, successfully implemented by the CH&PA and completed in 2007.
According to Minister of Housing and Water, Mr. Irfaan Ali, the strategy was designed to make sure all Guyanese, including the poor and vulnerable, are in an equitable position and, over the years, he has continuously emphasised that the Government and the Ministry remain committed to investing in people without disparity.
Through those actions, thousands of lives were transformed, as many poor families were given the opportunity of owning their own homes, a possibility of which most of them had never dreamt.