MINISTER within the Ministry of Housing and Water, Susan Rodrigues, has said that Guyana’s current housing programme is “a star” among similar initiatives in the region.

The minister made this remark during an airing of her show, “Making the case”, where she indicated that Guyana’s political will sets its housing programme apart from those around the world.

At the time, she was speaking of her recent visit to Ecuador where she attended a housing forum and discussed the ways in which Guyana is addressing the housing deficit.

She noted that she explained a lot about the housing programme at that forum including how it operates, how subsidised lands are transferred to low-income families and middle-income families and how housing units are being constructed to enable persons to acquire home ownership as fast as possible.

“I went through the whole programme in detail so that those countries that are represented there can understand how we are working to reduce the housing deficit in Guyana,” she said.

Rodrigues went on to add that while no country has been able to respond to 100 per cent of the demand for housing, there will always be a demand for housing in any jurisdiction and as such it is important that new ideas are discussed and new technologies employed.

“I was very pleased to share our experience here in Guyana and to share some of the ideas on the subsidy programmes that we have here so that those other countries that we have here that are interested in implementing similar programmes we can share those ideas and they were very happy to receive those,” she shared.

Meanwhile, the housing minister indicated that, as she heard about how other countries are addressing their deficit, she realised that what has set Guyana apart is the political will.

She emphasised that the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic government has always supported the housing programme and treated housing as a major pillar of the economy.

“We have always regarded the housing programme as very important to the development and transformation of the personal lives of our people and because we are convinced that it has this transformational effect on people’s lives, a positive effect on people’s lives that we continue to invest in the housing programme and that is what really sets us apart,” she said.

Added to this, Rodrigues iterated that the government has increased the housing budget significantly and that in itself speaks to the government ensuring that it continues to invest in housing and in providing housing to all Guyanese.