In the next few weeks, the Sunday Guardian intends to explore the promises made by the Government and look into the extent to which those promises have been kept. Taking a close look at policies mapped out in the past two budgets, we intend to look at the progress made and speak to ministers about the progress on delivery, stagnancy or delays in those plans. This week we look at the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.
With financial year 2017 coming to a close, the likelihood of Government meeting its target of distributing 2500 houses this year, as announced by Finance Minister Colm Imbert in the 2016/2017 budget presentation, is unachievable.
Between October 2016 and July 2017, the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) allocated just about half that amount, 1200-plus housing units. The corporation has, however, said it will deliver 200 more units by the end of September and 700 before the end of the calendar year.
The list of applicants continues to grow and so does the vociferous demand by the public for what some of them view as a right, demonstrated by online petitions, citizens asking for homes through the media and the number of applications sent to the HDC.
Meanwhile, the Ministry, and particularly the HDC, is still facing a $700 million dollar debt to contractors, a figure which surpassed its $644 million allocation for this financial year. In fact, the allocation to housing decreased in financial year 2016 and financial year 2017 by about 70 per cent and 65 per cent respectively.
The Ministry of Housing received a budget cut of 60.04 per cent in comparison to the first People’s National Movement (PNM) budget and approximately 70 per cent of the last People’s Partnership (PP) budget in fiscal 2015, moving from $2.877 billion in fiscal 2015, to $1.663 billion in 2016 and finally $664 million during this financial year.
The question of where the Government will get the money to finance these housing promises despite owing large sums to contractors, was answered by Mitchell in an interview last week.
Mitchell said the current sale of 87 units at Victoria Keys, a development with high-end luxury units built by the PP government and put on sale at market rates by the PNM, and the conversion of the HDC’s License to Occupy and Rent to Own agreements to mortgages, would bring in additional funding that would be invested in projects.
Between 2012 and 2017, the HDC has brought about 2,226 conversions to mortgages, with over 50 per cent occurring in 2016 and 2017, earning the corporation $541,709,114.00.
In the past two years, Mitchell has also announced potential policy decisions for the HDC, which were later reversed. In 2016 for example, Mitchell told media he was considering allocation of unfinished units to applicants who were willing to accept them, but that plan was shelved after legal issues were highlighted regarding mortgage applications for such units.
In June, a petition was started by Country FirsTT, an organisation founded by a former United National Congress (UNC) councillor, calling on the HDC to allocate houses which remained vandalised or abandoned.
After criticising the “extravagance” of the past administration in spending on key distribution ceremonies, Mitchell said he did not see the need to spend money on ceremonies when successful housing applicants could receive packages at the ministry. Up until yesterday, however, key distribution ceremonies were still taking place.
Subsidised housing is, however, only one of the ministry’s core areas of responsibility.
The ministry is also responsible for land settlement, urban development, regularisation of tenure for squatters, home improvement grants and subsidies and monitoring and evaluation of housing trends and markets in the country.
In terms of squatter regularisation, Mitchell said 3000 families would receive deeds by September 30 and improvement works on nine of the 29 squatter regularisation sites were ongoing.
As budget 2017/2018 nears, the majority of promises made for Housing in budget 2016/2017 are ongoing.
Contractors await new projects
T&T Contractor’s Association president Ramlogan Roopnarinesingh said the construction industry has slowed down and payment to contractors needed to be made a priority. He said, however, that the association supported the new strategy of having multiple contractors on one housing site.
Expressing hope that several Government projects set to come on-stream shortly will act as a catalyst to stimulate the local construction sector and once again increase employment and generate revenue, Roopnarinesingh applauded Government’s move to ensure as many local contractors as possible benefited from the revised arrangements.
He said this was being facilitated through the offering of “smaller” contracts, which meant more contractors were able to secure work, thus generating spin-off employment for countless people, including architects, engineers, masons, carpenters, electricians, plumbers and other vendors.
“We at the association are of the view that giving multiple contracts at the same site is a good strategy. It means at one site you get more people employed. Instead of giving one contractor hundreds of houses, you can give 10 contractors and you have more jobs. We are seeing that it is working out well,” he said.
Roopnarinesingh strongly believes the revitalisation of the construction sector could cement it as one of the main contributors to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Regarding the debt owed to contractors, he said they were told Government had no money to pay them.
“We are hoping that an arrangement would be put in place. We saw that the minister had started up outstanding projects they had going. We think it is a very good idea as something needs to be done to stimulate the sector,” Roopnarinesingh said.
“We are hoping that the HDC and other agencies would put the relevant instruments in place to pay outstanding debts.”
He said if the contractors had money in their hands then they could start private developments.
Moonilal: PNM will build nothing
Former housing minister Dr Roodal Moonilal says the PNM had demonstrated enormous incompetence and all their construction projects were engulfed in corruption.
“At the end of the day they will build nothing and mess up everything. It will be left to the incoming UNC government to rectify the construction and financial mess that they will leave,” Moonilal said.
“They cannot even complete the mega projects we started because they have alienated the contractors.”
Describing the PNM as anti-business, he said it was clear they could not understand basic principles of public investment and targeted growth in relation to income redistribution and employment creation.
“The fundamental problem is corruption and incompetence.”
As shadow housing minister, Moonilal compared the achievements of the ministry during his tenure to that of Mitchell.
He said in 2010 at the start of the PP’s term of office, there were thousands of empty housing units all across Trinidad’s landscape and this had sparked national outrage.
“The People’s Partnership dedicated time and financial resources to completing these stalled housing sites, having to execute intense remedial works to incomplete units as well as installing basic and required infrastructure (drainage, electrical and plumbing infrastructure, waste-water treatment plants, street-lights) which were not installed, and which rendered the housing sites incomplete and the housing units uninhabitable.”
He said the PNM strategy was to build in phases and to allocate small percentages (especially close to elections) of completed housing units within an incomplete phase.
“For instance, in Corinth Hills, San Fernando, of a total of 736 units, approximately 50 housing units were completed and allocated. The tragedy here was that the site was incomplete and without waste-water facilities. Human waste had to be pumped out of the development daily; the same had to be done in Retrench, San Fernando, Las Alturas, Morvant and Mendez Drive, Champs Fleurs.”
He said contrary to the numbers provided by the HDC to the Sunday Guardian, for the period 2010 to 2015, records confirmed that 8, 521 housing units were delivered across 35 project sites.
“This figure includes the completion of stalled projects inherited from the PNM administration.”
He also criticised the PNM’s announcement of the preferred procurement method of Public Private Partnership relative to the construction of houses.
“They had a grand media event announcing the start of a PPP project between the HDC and NH Construction. To date this project has not commenced because the information in the public domain is that there were considerable shortcomings within the HDC Request for Proposals, and the price quoted by the contractor is currently being re-negotiated. The PNM government has not completed one single house after two years in Government.”
UDECOTT Projects completed.
While the Red House, President’s House, Mille Fleurs and Whitehall are still under way, UDeCOTT provided a list of completed projects delivered in 2017.
In financial year 2017, UDeCOTT completed and handed over the following:
Maximum Security Prison Fence Project
St. Joseph Police Station
Besson Street, Police Station
Maracas, St Joseph Police Station
Inland Revenue Division, Government Plaza, Richmond Street, Port of Spain
Refurbishment of Hyatt Regency
Refurbishment of Dormitories at St. Michael’s Home for Boys
Mt Hope/Mt Lambert Community Centre
Ackbar Trace Community Centre
Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Tarouba
Stollmeyer’s Castle
BUDGET PROMISES
Promise: To expand the home ownership base in the country by converting rent to own to mortgage.
Justification: To increase the number of home owners in T&T and simultaneously gain funds from mortgage conversions to finance projects.
Status: Ongoing. Annual targets exceeded.
Progress: Mortgage Caravan established by T&T Mortgage Finance (TTMF) to encourage License to Occupy (LTO) and Rent to Own (RTO) agreement holders to convert. Caravan visits HDC sites on a continuous basis.
Explanation: The HDC has an annual target of 350 for conversions of LTO and RTO agreements. In 2016 and so far in 2017, 970 and 460 conversions have been successfully completed. Mitchell said conversion of these mortgages provides the HDC with the relevant capital to complete other housing developments.
Promise: Reviewing and strengthening the administration of the Home Improvement Grant and the Home Improvement Subsidy programmes to assist families experiencing financial difficulties.
Justification: In the previous years, the majority of the grants were disbursed in central and south Trinidad because the inspectors (who are a key part of the assessment process) refused to undertake any investigations along the East-West corridor and the time for processing the grant application spanned a longer than the expected period.
Status: Review Ongoing (Continuous).
Progress: The Home Improvement Subsidy (HIS) and Home Construction Subsidy (HCS) is managed by the ministry’s Neighbourhood Upgrade Programme. For the Home Improvement Grant, Mitchell said investigators who live along the East-West corridor were hired to conduct investigations at the homes of applicants who reside in those areas. He also said strategies aimed at reducing the time-frame for expediting grants and increasing responsiveness were effectively implemented. He said the effectiveness of the HIS had increased by 160 per cent since 2015.
Explanation: In the past two financial years, the allocation for the Home Improvement Grant programme has been cut by more than 50 per cent. The Home Improvement Subsidy programme, Mitchell said, had been the subject of an International Development Bank (IDB) Project Management Review (PMR), which revealed that as at December 2015, the Neighbourhood Upgrade Programme was in the problem/borderline critical state and was under threat of cancellation, due to under-performance over the years.
He said in January 2016, the Programme Monitoring and Coordinating Unit (PMCU) adopted a new management structure and embarked on an aggressive marketing campaign, which generated an increase in applications for home subsidies. Mitchell said as of June 2016, the NUP moved to the satisfactory/stable/content state as a result of the new approaches which were implemented. Between December 2015 to September 2016, 423 families benefited from the Home Improvement Subsidies; a 160 per cent increase over the 2015 fiscal period, while 451 families were recipients of the Home Construction Subsidies; a 253 per cent increase over 2015.
Promise: To deliver 2,500 houses to deserving applicants in financial year 2017.
Justification: To meet the demands for low-income housing by citizens.
Status: Unachieved.
Progress: The HDC has allocated 1200 houses for financial year 2017 so far. With one month remaining until the end of fiscal 2017, the HDC anticipates that it will allocate 200 houses by September 30, missing the target by as much as 44 per cent.
Explanation: Construction on several housing sites are ongoing and while the HDC may be able to meet the target by the end of the calendar year, this was not the time-line stipulated in the budget by the Minister of Finance. Mitchell said by September 30, 2017 (end of this financial year), the HDC would have distributed an additional 200 homes at Pier Road, La Brea; Vieux Fort, St. James; Bon Air and Cypress Gardens.
Promise: To restore towns and cities and create new ones through targeted housing construction, in particular in the urban areas.
Justification: To support the growth of the population in established towns and cities.
Status: Ongoing
Progress: Work on three major housing developments has advanced in the East West corridor. These include River Runs Through Housing Development, Arima; Trestrail Housing Development, D’abadie and Bon Air South Housing Development, Arouca.
Explanation: Mitchell said the towns and villages located in East Trinidad have experienced positive growth over the years through the establishment of many educational institutions, housing communities, places of worship, commercial centres and governmental organisations. He added that in May, the sod was turned for a housing development at Gomez Trace in Moruga. The development of this housing community, paired with the construction of the recently-announced Agro-Processing and Light Industrial Park and Fishing Port in Moruga, were all intended to further develop this area and build enduring prosperity and sustainable livelihoods for all.
Promise: Plan to pursue public/private partnerships in the housing sector.
Justification: To harness financial and other resources within the private sector to complete some of its housing projects.
Status: Ongoing.
Progress: One such partnership has been established, more under discussion.
Explanation: The Mt. Hope Housing Development (Mahogany Court) will be the first project to be constructed by the PNM using this model and they expect many more projects to follow, Mitchell said. The sod for this project was turned in the last quarter of 2016 and is expected to be completed by 2019. Construction is yet to begin. Mitchell said the HDC had initiated discussions for the development of other PPP projects which will be located at Corinth and Malabar.