Vacant vandalised houses owned by the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) are now up for grabs, but Housing Minister Randall Mitchell cannot assure that the houses will be sold at cheaper prices.
Speaking at a key distribution function at the National Academy for the Performing Arts’ south campus in San Fernando yesterday, Mitchell said the vandalised houses will be sold as is, but the arrangements for purchase are still being worked out.
Saying it was up to the prospective homeowners to decide whether or not they wanted the houses, Mitchell revealed that the HDC did not have the money to repair and outfit the vandalised houses. Noting there are many vacant homes in every HDC development, Mitchell vowed that by Christmas 1,000 vacant houses will be distributed to the public.
Questioned later about whether it was fair for a homeower to get a vandalised house at the same rate, Mitchell pointed out that the prices for the housing units are already heavily subsidised.
“It is about 40 per cent subsidised. We do not charge the homeowner for the land, nor the infrastructure. It will be given with the agreement of the home owner. We are not going to force something down someone’s throat,” he said.
“Because of the state of the economy, we don’t have the money that we would like to have to do the refurbishment works. These units would have been left vacant for the past five or six years.”
Mitchell said those who qualify for the houses and who are approved by the allocation department will get the opportunity to choose the unit.
“What we are trying to do is get people into the houses as fast as possible. During a walk through the homeowner will notice defects and the home owner has to sign whether they will accept or reject the unit,” he explained.
Mitchell also said the HDC was encountering difficulty with the collection of payments for units.
“This is a major problem and we want people to make their payments. If people have suffered job loss we at HDC will be compassionate and understanding,” Mitchell said.
He also urged License to Occupy tenants to push forward to have their mortgages done.
“When people make license to occupy payments, the HDC can’t touch that money because it is put into a suspense account which the T&T Mortgage Finance controls.
“The HDC benefits when the LTO converts to mortgage and that is what we use to pay contractors and pay the homes,” Mitchell explained.
He also said the HDC’s security personnel are doing surveys to see whether there is illegal occupation of HDC homes. Saying illegal tenants will face the full brunt of the law, Mitchell said he intended to treat with this problem in due course.