THE Department of Housing is working assiduously to get the remaining 141 residents who had purchased homes under the former People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Government’s ‘Turn–Key’ programme into their houses before Christmas.Minister responsible for Central Housing and Planning, Valerie Patterson, made this disclosure as she announced on Friday that a new project manager, Kennard Dazzel, has been hired to ensure faulty homes are repaired and new ones are completed.

Completing the 200 Perseverance homes is the first project on the Housing Ministry’s “refocusing” agenda”. Almost two years after moving into their houses, Perseverance residents are still without proper facilities; while others who finalised home purchases are still renting while paying mortgages because of incomplete structures.

Patterson said the manager has commenced assessment of the 141 homes, to ascertain what materials must be procured, and contractors will soon be engaged. “We are hoping for a total completion of this project by Christmas. We have commenced the work and we hope to complete it very soon,” the minister declared.

The Board of the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA), in a public statement, said it has recognised that the Perseverance Project requires “a qualified and experienced project manager” for this magnitude of work. This statement comes days after the board had come under criticism for its sloth in handling the Perseverance Project and national affairs of the housing sector.

Senior staffers within the CH&PA have questioned the numerous board meetings being held with little outcome. However, in a statement, the board confirmed its insistence in refocusing the housing direction to acknowledge mainly planning policies and laws that guide the “orderly” development of the sector.

The board noted that “under the Town and Country Planning Act, CHPA is required to prepare development schemes (spatial development plans) to guide all future development, including housing development and regulated land use through the planning permission process”.

The board noted, however, that this mandatory forward “planning” function was mostly overshadowed by the agency’s “housing” function, which caters to the provision of homes for the working class. This, they said, confined the planning function “primarily to the design and implementation stage with respect to the preparation of site, layout designs, and land use control activities”.

“This has contributed to the development of settlements not being guided by an overall spatial (physical) development plan for the area(s) in which they are located,” the board said.

“With the aim of re-instituting Government’s priority/value for planning,” the board said, a planning forum will be hosted “to raise the level of awareness on a number of issues affecting the collaborative and coordinating context of the CH&PA’s planning function”.

While it was noted that the forum speaks to a multi-agency approach to ensuring the orderly and progressive development of cities, towns, urban and rural areas, the board expressed interest in correcting the unauthorised use of reserves and other lands for settlement.

In this regard, the housing board said, it would be focusing more on low-income earners who are eligible to benefit from the Government housing initiatives. “We recognise that emphasis was not geared towards persons and families of low or no affordability. A preliminary evaluation of the projects implemented in the last seven years revealed that most of the housing developments did not cater for the public needs of low income groups, which can be substantiated by the many pending active applications of low-income earners who have indicated their interest in acquiring shelter solutions.”

The board said the Ministry will undertake to provide a range of residential housing solutions that will be affordable, accessible and safe; and ultimately improve the living conditions and the quality of life of the beneficiaries, since they will be involved in the planning process.

“The housing communities will be carefully planned (and) organized, and we will roll-out implementation strategies that will involve the participation of the potential residents upfront, and all stakeholders in the planning and execution processes, to ensure that wholesome and cohesive communities are a reality.” The Housing Authority is said to be contemplating the construction of condominiums and housing complexes as part of their home provision initiatives.