Financial institutions reluctant to support Govt’s ‘flagship’ housing project

…CH&PA Head admits persons refusing to share 1 building

Two years after the launch of the Government’s ‘flagship’ housing project at Perseverance, East Bank Demerara, it still has not gained momentum.

Government’s Perseverance ‘Housing Solutions 2017 and Beyond’ Project, which commenced in 2017, has been faced with the challenge of non-occupancy as persons are refusing to share duplexes.
This was confirmed on Monday during the Central Housing and Planning Authority’s End-of-Year Report for 2019.
According to CH&PA Operations Director Denise King-Tudor, another challenge is that despite having allocated all units, many persons are yet to move in.
“In some cases, persons…we’re waiting on the banks to release that final payment to us so that they can proceed to the next stage. And there are cases where persons…we’re in receipt of payments for those houses, but they are doing some [works]…some persons they would like to fence, they want to grill, they want to do improve[ment] on the bridge that we have provided for them to gain access to that house, and there are some other little things that they would like to do before. And there are those too, that they have not yet – they’ve been allocated a while, they’ve paid the full amount – and they’re still not occupying those houses,” King-Tudor explained.
Another challenge which the CH&PA has been facing is the hesitation from commercial banks and other financial institutions to grant approval for loans.
CH&PA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Lelon Saul indicated that the main issue related to the duplexes, where different families would be sharing one building.
“The issue with the banks right now is the issue about ownership particularly at Perseverance; we’re working to resolve that. I mean in many countries across the region, there are apartment buildings or duplexes and you know…we have to embrace these things and I’m quite positive the financial institution[s] will get on board and support our initiative. We just cannot say that we would not construct duplexes; even right in Guyana, here there are gated communities that have condominiums being sold. And the very banking institution[s] are supporting those initiatives. And I see no reason why they would not support Central Housing and Planning Authority with our duplexes,” Saul said.
He added that the CH&PA has been taking several initiatives to get persons to occupy their units.
“We have a few persons and we are engaging them; we are talking with them and in fact, they’ve been given a specific timeline to occupy those units…and so we are working with the purchasers to get them to move in,” Operations Director King-Tudor noted.
The Government had said at the project’s launching that it was aimed at bringing resolution to those persons who form the huge backlog of applications at the CH&PA.
Just earlier this year, homeowners of Perseverance homes had complained about structural defects which included leaking roofs, toilet facilities, and flooring issues.