Dear Editor,
PEOPLE fear what a return of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) to government would mean for their housing dream. The fear is real. It is justified.  It is understandable.  The fear extends across race, religion, genders and income levels.
This is the conclusion that I came to as I interacted with a cross-section of the people that visited the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA), more particularly the current Minister.

As Election Day got closer, more and more people came to the agency, anxiously wanting to “get a piece of land before the elections.” Some of them came because they were called.  Others came because “it is customary that house lots are given out at election time” (A normal PPP/C election gimmick). Whether they came because they were called or they came of their own accord, many of them share the same fearful feeling.  That fear is grounded in what they were subjected to during the tenure of the PPP/C party, more so, under Mr. Irfaan Ali as Minster of Housing and Water.

Many of them have related, what can aptly be described as, “horror stories;” some of which are too sordid to repeat here.  They tell of being “cursed with Fs and Ss” by the Minister.  Others related of being insulted and shouted at. A young man of East Indian ancestry related how he visited the Minister’s office where he was asked, “Wuh de ‘so and so’ you want wid house lot. Get yuh mother so and so out my office.” As a result of that encounter, he never returned until the day that he and I spoke.  He had come to see the Hon. Valerie Patterson-Yearwood.

A 1990 applicant was actually given an offer and was standing in the line to the cashier (the Housing Office, Region 3), when the Regional official (now deceased) instructed the cashier “not to accept his money,” adding, “Leh he go and leh Hoyte give he land.” A 1995 applicant was told to “go to Leonora on a Sunday morning” with her money tif she wanted to be allocated.  Her story was corroborated by a younger female who herself balked at having to “go to Leonora.”

One young Afro-Guyanese male related that he was the only person of African descent, among a group of employees from a government agency.  He was the only person that “did not get through.” Accompanied by his wife, a police woman, they were allocated during Minister Yearwood’s tenure. A teacher (Afro-Guyanese) detailed how her husband (Indo-Guyanese, employed with a beverage company) was told by the Minister, “Yuh company gah fuh gi you mo money.”  I asked her what did she think the Minister meant? She explained that her husband was “not working for enough money to afford a house lot.”

A woman, dressed in Muslim attire, broke down in tears. She recalled that after “waiting all day to see the Minister,” the secretary informed her that the Minister won’t be seeing anyone else.  She said that she sat there and watched everyone that “looked like him” go into the office after the secretary’s announcement. People are afraid because they perceive that the PPP/C housing programme favoured the rich and mighty. It has been established that the pricing policy per square foot is lower for the rich and well-connected. It has also been established that a number of low-income areas were left devoid of infrastructure, while those where the high and mighty were allocated received attention. People are afraid because they “know people who get three and four house lots,” while they didn’t even receive one. In 2015/16, an assessment revealed that there were some 28,000 vacant house lots throughout the country.  At the same time there were 25,000 active applications waiting to be served.

Many of the vacant lots have been in the possession of the owners for more than 15 years. Many owners “are overseas”.  Many of these house lots are up for sale. A senior official from a government agency tells of being offered a house lot.  The seller is living on one lot; constructing a house on another and is offering a third for sale. A caller from Region 6 pleaded for someone to go, so he could point out one businessman who “got more than seven house lots.”

One man is paying rent in excess of $100,000.  He enquired about a vacant house lot in his area and was told that the owner is overseas.  This house lot has been vacant “forever.”

A medial practitioner is being offered an East Coast house lot for $8,000,000.  The seller acquired it from CHPA at a cost of $500,000.

Editor, I think that the post by a Facebook user, under the name Rukamlal Motielal speaking about Mr. Ali, captures the feelings of multiplied thousands, “You forget what you [were] doing to poor people at housing ministry.” To those people I say, Fear Not! Vote! Vote for a president who is not only honest, but whose housing policy reads, in part, “land must not be the subject of speculation by a few rich people; it must be the subject of settlement by many poor people.”  Vote for a leader who believes that “Every citizen should enjoy the right to housing” and has inscribed that into his policy and housing programme.

Regards
Remington Nelson