A meal of bacon and bread was all Allison Dick could give her children on Christmas Day and she was in tears.
She had been hoping her family would be relocated from under the steps of an abandoned HDC apartment building at Harmony Hall, Gasparillo, before Christmas. As the day came and went, she struggled with anger, depression and pain.
“I wish the HDC could let me know if my son qualified for a house or not. They told me they would try to get me out of here by Christmas once my son qualifies but nobody contacted us to say anything,” she said.
“I was a hard working security guard. I never depended on anybody for anything. I used to mind my children myself but then I got sick and I couldn’t pay my HDC rent of $1,000 a month,” she said.
As Christmas dawned yesterday, Dick said she was so depressed she could not even bring herself to cook. Her neighbours brought bacon and bread for them and tried to console her. A family from a nearby community brought toy cars for the twin seven-year-old boys Tyrel and Tyrese Augustus and for nine-year-old Rahim Germai. Her 16-year-old son Carlon Germai also got a present and her former boss brought some cash while another neighbour offered to cook lunch for the family.
However despite these efforts, Dick said she could not shake the depression which engulfed her. She did not smile even when she got news that her pregnant daughter was getting contractions.
“I just want a better place for my family. I can’t think of anything else. When my daughter and the baby comes out of the hospital, they won’t be able to come here. She will have to continue staying by my sister,” she said.
The Ministry of Social Development has offered to pay three months rent for the family but Dicksaid no landlord is willing to take her in with her six children and grandchild.
“Also, people whom I contacted said the Government takes long to pay rent so they are not willing to take us in. That is why Christmas meet us right here,” she said.
She is appealing to HDC managing director Brent Lyons to look into the case.
“My son works for more money than I was working for at the time when I qualified for a house, so I am hoping he will qualify,” Dick said.
She expressed regret that she had not paid her rent to HDC for seven years after she got a unit.
Lyons and Housing Minister Randall Mitchell could not be reached for comment yesterday. Mitchell in an earlier interview said the Ministry’s social department was investigating the matter.
He said the Children’s Authority, police and Social Development Ministry had a responsibility to assist the family.
Dick owes more than $84,000 in arrears to the HDC as she never paid a cent of rent after getting her unit.
The family was among 25 families evicted from HDC apartments at Harmony Hall on March 25. Soon after that eviction, she moved her belongings and her children into a tent on the compound but during Tropical Storm Bret the family’s belongings got damaged and she moved under the steps.
Dick said she suffers from sleep apnea, anaemia and hypertension, depression and has a low blood count,. She also has to do three surgeries unrelated to those conditions.