ABOUT 25,000 Guyanese are awaiting approval for their houselot applications, newly appointed Minister of Communities with responsibility for Housing, Valerie Adams-Patterson, has disclosed.

“We have 25,000 active applications within the system,” she told the Guyana Chronicle during a recent interview, while explaining that this batch includes new applications and even those that date back to the early 2000s.

Responding to the situation, the Ministry of Communities and the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) are currently assessing possible avenues that can be taken to reduce the bulk of active applications within the system.

“Whatever barriers there are, we are going to move them. Whatever policy changes need to be made, we are going to make (them), because we cannot continue to have people filing applications and their applications are not being processed. The bottom line is (that the backlog) has to be cleared, and quickly,” Minister Adams-Patterson emphasised.

‘One Stop Shop’
One of the initiatives she has already considered is the ‘One Stop Shop’, which was initiated under the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) administration by then Housing Minister Irfaan Ali.

“I believe the ‘One Stop Shop’ benefited Guyanese across this country…. To me, the citizens of this country were pleased with it in many ways. One: it brought the ministry to the people, and that is something that I would like to see done very often,” she said.

Expressing the desire to conduct ‘One Stop Shop’ exercises in every region, Adams-Patterson said the initiative will help to fast track the process, thereby reducing the bulk of applications within the system. “It can fast track that entire process when it comes to land allocation, because persons are able to do their applications, have their interviews, pay their monies, all at one location on one day, and that in itself fast tracks the process.”

While this initiative played an integral role in transforming the housing landscape within the country, she said, based on her assessment, some communities, such as Linden in Region 10, were “short-changed.”
“Linden had one, or two the most (One Stop Shop exercises), and there was a promise of another one that never came off. And I can tell you, based on what I know happening in Linden, Lindeners have been shorted-changed when it comes to land allocation,” she posited.

However, Adams-Patterson intends to re-introduce this drive before the end of the month, with the primary objective of giving every Guyanese a fair chance to own a plot of land.

In addition to the ‘One Stop Shop’, Adams-Patterson said more and more Guyanese are making demands for the core houses. Under the stewardship of Ali, approximately 400 core houses were constructed for poor families at a cost of $2.9 million each, with each family having to contribute $100, 000. In an effort to re-introduce this project, the ministry will be soliciting international support to facilitate the construction of more core houses, the minister said. While the core houses have been favoured by the people, she said only a particular category of Guyanese has been able to benefit from the turnkey initiative, due to the cost implication.

One turnkey house is valued at $4.9 million, the minister said, explaining that the financial institutions that have committed to this project lend only $4 million. “Many people, from the time I am here, are complaining that that is so difficult for them (to source the additional funds), and it is understandable. Not many people could put their hands in their pockets and find $900,000, so we have to definitely look at more of the core houses; and two: find low-cost lands.”

Additionally, the minister has pledged to remove the barriers preventing young professionals from owning homes. She said that the majority of the working class people have been unable to afford land in general, because most of them are below the poverty line, and as such cannot afford the lands that are within the system.

Against that background, the ministry will be returning to the table to discuss the provision of low-cost lands, but not low-quality land.
“What we have in the system is for more middle and high-income earners. So we have to now focus on finding land so that we can make it available to the low-income people,” she explained.

Meanwhile, Minister Adams-Patterson said that while the ministry has fallen short in meeting the needs of the people, some Guyanese have failed to play their part, because the ministry has approved a number of land titles, but they are still within the possession of the ministry.

By Svetlana Marshall