IMAGINE the joy of owning a home for the first time after spending years living in a rented home. This is the case of thousands of Guyanese who became first-time homeowners and who can now proudly turn the keys to a home they can now proudly call their own. Only recently, 11 moderate-income families received keys to their newly constructed homes in Cummings Lodge Housing Scheme, Greater Georgetown. This development is an advance over that of obtaining a plot of land in a new housing scheme, which sometimes takes a while before all the necessary infrastructures are put in place to allow for a comfortable life.
Apart from the comfort of the homes, the location of Cummings Lodge itself in relative proximity to the city of Georgetown is a distinct advantage in terms of job opportunities and access to government services and shopping malls. The scheme is also in proximity to the University of Guyana and the Teachers’ Training College, which is an added advantage. The area is likely to be further developed with the construction of several other homes into a model community.
No wonder the recipients of the homes have nothing but praise for the Ministry of Housing and the PPP/C administration for making the homes available to them. One owner, who previously lived with his parents on the East Bank of Demerara, was elated at getting that opportunity to own both a piece of land with a completed house on it, which he said, saved him a lot of trouble and ‘running around.’ That view was shared by the many others who also benefitted from the facility. The two-bedroom, elevated, moderate-income houses were constructed by the Ministry of Housing’s Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA) as part of the PPP/C Government’s affordable housing programme.
According to Housing Minister Colin Croal, the aim is to ensure that there is a housing programme that responds to the housing needs of every Guyanese — lower, moderate, middle and young professionals, as well as vulnerable groups. Not only is the government building homes and providing lands for those categories of Guyanese, but several measures were also implemented that will allow for beneficiaries to have easy access to loans to purchase those homes.
Interestingly, the construction of the homes started under the previous PPP/C administration but was halted after the APNU+AFC came to power in May 2015. As to why a project intended to address the housing needs of young people was aborted by the previous Granger administration is at best puzzling, but it does raise some serious questions regarding the commitment of the then regime to address the housing needs of the Guyanese people and young people in particular.
In fact, housing had never been a priority under the PNC regime, which ignored the housing concerns of the Guyanese people over the nearly three decades of undemocratic rule, resulting in a huge backlog of unmet housing needs. Many people had no choice but to squat on state lands. Sophia was one such squatting area which was only regularised after the PPP/C came to power in October 1992. Thousands of Guyanese were given house lots by the PPP/C administration in housing schemes all over the country and thousands more are being provided with house lots under the current administration every day.
The joy of ownership is not limited only to homeownership, but to other expensive consumer items such as ownership of motor vehicles. The number of young people who are today owners of vehicles have increased exponentially over the past years due to rising income levels and easier access to bank credit. The PPP/C administration has made it much easier for both home and vehicle ownership, due to a number of fiscal incentives, all of which have reduced the ‘burden’ of ownership.
Since assuming office in August 2020, the PPP/C administration has committed to delivering some 50,000 house lots within its first term in office. To fulfil that mandate, the Ministry of Housing through the Central Housing and Planning Authority has been making available thousands of house lots to all eligible Guyanese in several regions of Guyana. This is in addition to the building of core homes for low-income earners and the construction of homes for young professionals.
President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali has committed himself to providing a roof over the heads of all eligible Guyanese, but that he said must be done in an orderly manner and within the framework of the law. According to President Ali, when he was Housing Minister under the PPP/C administration, over 30,000 house lots were delivered, and that despite the fact that the PPP/C administration inherited a situation where there was no housing ministry.
Instead, there were over 500 squatter settlements all over the country. All of that has now changed and squatting is now becoming something of the past. “I am calling on all Guyanese of all walks of life to embrace the future with confidence that this government will deliver to you,” the President assured Guyanese.
