Slothfulness in building houses from the Housing Department

Dear Editor,
Editor, I have a genuine interest and specific concern for people like me who are desirous of owning their own house or home.
This concern has germinated out of the slothful progression of work in relation to the actual building of houses from the Housing Department for our fellow Guyanese citizens, the poor people who are in the majority.
The Ministry with responsibility for housing, Editor, has two Ministers with this portfolio and sadly not much has been done since 2015 for the actual construction of houses and the jobs that can be created from this Ministry.
I do acknowledge the work done by Minister Yearwood who is in this post at present and ensures that house lots are made available for many Guyanese who had their applications in the system for many years, and today, they are now house lot owners.
As commendable as this may be, this is not the principal mandate and primary objective of this Ministry as set out by his Excellency in his well-articulated vision for housing. The building of communities as posited by our President, require houses to be built on those lands and people living in them.
Since 2015, this Ministry without a shortage of funds have not built 200 houses as yet!
The houses that are being built by the Ministry are too expensive for the average Guyanese public servant, who works for less than five hundred US dollars per month.
The price tag of over seven million for those 24X30 two-bedroom flat houses is burdensome and will cause the poor to be poorer. Furthermore, I do not believe there is a lending institution that will provide a loan for one to purchase a duplex house/apartment in the country.
On the notion of the poor, the Food For The Poor (FFTP) organisation is doing what the Housing Department is not and should be doing, which is building houses. Houses that are affordable for the average paid workers in this country.
With over a billion plus dollars spent, what is there to show that is noteworthy of mentioning.
FFTP has recently boasted about its 3500 houses it has built already for the poor in our country and is now taking there project to the interior and rural communities.
What is this Ministry doing to achieve the President’s vision of building communities?
The Minister of Housing has the opportunity to create a multiplicity of opportunities for countless Guyanese to gain employment by clearing the land, selling the materials for the drainage and water system, lighting, building materials for the houses, the actual building of those houses as well as create possibilities for youngsters to learn a skill.
The Minister is sleeping on the Ministry’s tail and depriving countless young Guyanese of not only work but the pride and joy of home ownership. We need a Minister of housing, not house lots.
It is sad when a Ministry has allowed an organisation like Food For The Poor to lead the way with its mandate of building houses for Guyanese.

Sincerely,
Houseless land owner