The political arena is heating up as Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and the Opposition United National Congress (UNC) clash over the legality of the new reduction to the qualifying salary for accessing government-subsidised housing.
Rowley, speaking at the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) key handover at Chaconia Crescent, Diego Martin, yesterday, said the UNC internal election was the reason behind the recent attack on the government changes to the qualifying combined salary for HDC homes from $45,000 to $25,000.
“What is the problem? What is the story? Except that someone has a campaign coming in December and looking for something to talk about. I wish them well,” Rowley said. “Let them sue me, I have court clothes,” Rowley said.
Rowley is challenging Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar to take him to court if she can find any proof of illegality in the policy changes at the HDC.
Rowley was referring to media reports that Persad-Bissessar had reportedly described the government’s move to reduce the qualifying income for accessing state-subsidised homes from $45,000 to $25,000 as illegal. The media reported Persad-Bissessar’s argument was that the move discriminated against the thousands of citizens who had already submitted applications for state housing.
Rowley said that every HDC house carried a subsidy and it was the government’s responsibility to ensure that the subsidy was utilised by those most in need.
“If persons had applied expecting that they will qualify and their income is $35,000, $40,000, that application is no longer applying for something that exists,” he said.
However, Rowley said, if a person had already been allocated a house and was above that new income level, there would be no move to undo that. “Once you are at the applicant stage and the policy changes, you have to adapt to that,” he said.
Moonilal—30,000 will be affected, plans protest march
While Rowley did not say how many of the almost 200,000 HDC applicants no longer qualify for state homes, another UNC leader hopeful, former housing minister Dr Roodal Moonilal said the number of affected was as many as 30,000.
“As a result of this brutal decision, some 30,000 potential owners have been taken off the HDC, so that the friends, family and supporters of the PNM can benefit. These are the same friends, family and supporters of the PNM who refused to pay rent to the HDC for years, leading to millions of outstanding monies (owed) to the HDC,” Moonilal said.
Moonilal held a hasty media conference yesterday to address the changes to the HDC qualifying income policy. “I have already been contacted by many persons who were assigned houses based on the legitimate expectation of a $45,000 ceiling income. I have assembled a team of lawyers who will meet with these affected persons and decide the way forward. But it does not end there. As a mark of protest, I plan to lead a march to the head office of the HDC and Parliament to raise the issue which is dictatorial in every sense of the word,” he said.
Moonilal said, the PNM was victimising middle-income earners.