5000 vulnerable families to benefit from Govt’s new social housing initiative – Pres Ali

…says over 270 EoIs received to construct housing units

As the Guyana Government continues its aggressive housing development, President Dr Irfaan Ali has unveiled plans for a new initiative that would target highly-vulnerable individuals and families and support them towards homeownership.
He made this announcement during a video broadcast on Thursday to speak about his Government’s efforts to further expand the housing sector and create more opportunities for homeownership and community development across Guyana.
“We know that social housing is an important part of the housing strategy, and we’re going to build a mechanism through which we’re going to identify highly vulnerable persons within our society. Single mothers – and not only single mothers, but single mothers who are facing specific economic challenges; people living with disabilities; the elderly, and we’re going to have a social housing programme to support [them towards] homeownership,” the Head of State said.
According to President Ali, this social housing initiative would see the build-out of approximately 5000 social homes for vulnerable individuals and families.
“We’re targeting between 3000 to 5000 [social] homes. We will be launching that programme soon, and we’ll be setting up strict criteria for persons to have access to those homes. Because one of the things that we want in the People’s Progressive Party/Civic is not only to make homeownership easier but to empower people, to bring dignity to every single Guyanese family in where they live, how they live, and the circumstances surrounding their living conditions,” the Guyanese leader posited.
Already, the Guyana Government has been building out several low-income turnkey houses across the country for Guyanese on the lower end of the earning bracket. Additionally, the Government has also embarked on a $6 billion Homestead Project, which will see 500 homes constructed at Yarrowkabra on the Linden-Soesdyke Highway paired with shade houses.
Officially launched back in January, the Hyde Park Project is designed for single mothers, allowing them to grow crops for both household use and earning.
This is one of the many initiatives that the Ali-led Administration has rolled out since 2020 to not just support vulnerable families but also encourage homeownership among Guyanese. These include the highly-successful Steel and Cement Subsidy programme, which has supported more than 4000 vulnerable persons, with over 2500 cement vouchers and 1500 cement and steel vouchers issued to date.

In fact, during the first term of office, the PPP/C Government has invested nearly $240 billion in the housing sector between 2020 and 2025. During that period, some 53,000 house lots were distributed, 24 squatter settlements were regularised, more than 100 housing areas were developed, and over 128,000 citizens benefited from land allocations.
These were further coupled with the removal of VAT (Value-Added Tax) on locally- and regionally-produced construction materials such as fabricated steel beams, prestressed concrete piles, roofing, PVC products, cement, sheetrock, and concrete boards – all with the aim of reducing costs, thus driving greater ease in home construction.
Additionally, there were a series of measures to enhance access to financing for the construction of homes, including the lowering of interest rates for mortgages by commercial banks, the raising of the low-income mortgage rate ceiling at commercial banks to $30 million, and making the interest on housing loans up to $30 million tax-deductible.
According to President Ali, these interventions have “…collectively returned $43.8 billion directly to the Guyanese families over the past five years… [That] $43.8 billion, which would have otherwise been paid to the banking sector or taken out of your pocket, has come back directly to Guyanese families over the past five years.”
Moreover, the Guyana Government has also seen massive successes over the last five years in its home solution initiative, which includes the Young Professional Homes, the turnkey houses, the Hinterland Housing Programme, the Homestead Project, and the modular homes.
In fact, having recognised the growing preference for pre-built homes instead of lots, the Government has set a goal of constructing 40,000 houses over the next five years.
“We are seeing, in addition to the 40,000 units that we have to build, an increase in demand for the homes that the Ministry [of Housing] is constructing, and that is because the Ministry is able to achieve economies of scale and also manage constructors and construction – many persons do not have the time to do that.”
“So, we have gone out on an Expression of Interest [EoI]. We have received more than 270 Expressions of Interest to construct housing units, and these are from varied prices. This Expression of Interest was to help us accelerate the development of areas and the construction of homes simultaneously to satisfy the growing demand,” President Ali stated.
Previously, Housing Minister Collin Croal had explained to the Guyana Times that the target is to build at least 8000 houses per year, and with a lot of time lost already, the contractors would have to ramp up work once the contracts are awarded.
The Minister noted that the search for contractors had to be expanded beyond Guyana, given that the current construction boom in the country has caused a shortage of local contractors.