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Jul 07, 2019 APNU Column, Features / Columnists
(Statement of His Excellency Brigadier David Granger, President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, to the Central Planning and Housing Authority on 31 May 2019)
National housing policy
Housing, together with food and clothing, is an essential element of human existence. Government’s policy is defined by the Constitution of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana which proclaims [at Article 26] that: “Every citizen has the right to proper housing accommodation.”
The Constitution proclaims, also [at Article 19] that: “Every citizen has the right to own personal property which includes such assets as dwelling houses and the land on which they stand…”
Guyana’s housing policy is consistent, further, with United Nation’s International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966 which proclaims the right of everyone to: “…to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions…”
– Happy homes, happy families and happy communities are the foundation of a happy country and of the good life. Houses are where families live. Families are the basic cells of communities. Communities are the bases on which the country is built.
– Housing is important to the quality of life. Housing helps to keep families together. It is necessary for the proper upbringing of children. Housing adds economic value to the nation. The housing sector creates demand for raw materials, labour and other services.
– Guyana’s housing policy is an inseparable and integral ingredient of community development. The principal objective of the government’s housing policy is to encourage “accessible and affordable housing in sanitary and safe communities with the necessities for wholesome and dignified living.”
– Government has adopted a holistic approach to community development through the provision of basic infrastructure services such as electricity, telephones, roads, solid waste disposal and pure water supply and, also, recreational, educational and sports facilities.
Government’s new housing policy is aimed at ensuring affordable and accessible housing for all. The new housing policy rests on four pillars:
– Reorientation: Government’s housing programme is reoriented to give priority to the housing needs of the most vulnerable – low-income earners, particularly low-income public servants desirous of becoming first-time home owners. The government plans over the next three years to build 10,000 low income units (being verified).
– Resources : Government’s housing policy emphasizes holistic community development. Government’s housing programme will go beyond the provision of house lots and housing units. It will provide for the holistic needs of residents including education, electricity, fire protection services, health, worship, human safety, recreation, roads, sanitation, street lights and water.
– Regularisation: Shanties, slums and squatter settlements must be brought to an end. Squatters who reside on reserves have need to be relocated and resettled. The affected persons will be provided with the option of acquiring government housing.
– Regionalisation: Migration of persons out of our villages and hinterland communities has created a high demand for housing within urban centres. The neglect of rural and hinterland development has forced persons to gravitate to the urban centres in search of economic opportunities.
The government’s new housing programme, based in part on the development of capital towns in the hinterland regions, will aim at increasing the rural and hinterland housing stock. This when coupled with the economic development of these regions could result in reverse migration.
Central Planning and Housing Authority:
– British Guiana’s housing situation by 1945 had become dire. Overcrowding and slum-like conditions proliferated the towns and countryside. The colonial government – responding to pressure from the working class – took the lead in establishing a central authority to provide housing for low-income persons.
The Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA) was established in 1948. It assumed responsibility for housing in Georgetown. Support for housing for sugar workers in rural areas was provided by the Sugar Industry Welfare Fund.
– The Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA), inter alia, is empowered to acquire sell and develop lands for housing and to set aside other lands for industrial and commercial usage. It is tasked with the development – including the provision of infrastructure and public services – of housing schemes and the orderly development of our city, towns and rural and urban areas.
– The CHPA is expected to implement government’s housing policy of ensuring that accessible and affordable housing to low- and middle-income families and provide for the holistic development of all residential areas.
– A Ministry of Housing and Reconstruction, to push housing development, was created following the attainment of political independence in 1966. The national housing drive accelerated rapidly in 1970 following the passage of the Housing Development Act. The establishment of financial institutions such as the Guyana Mortgage Finance Bank and the Guyana National Cooperative Bank boosted the housing drive, the former dedicated to providing housing loans. A number of options, including aided self-help, cooperative self-help, rentals and rental purchase of government housing units, were utilised in providing and supporting low-income housing schemes between 1970 and 1980.
Government’s involvement in housing development over the past two decades revolved principally around the sale and allocation of house lots to individuals and the divestment of lands to private housing developers. This policy has not satisfied the demand for housing.
The housing programme of the past two decades was bedevilled with problems including: prohibitive costs for house lots; abysmal infrastructure within housing schemes; instances of failures on the part of some private developers to meet their contractual obligations; sloth in the processing of land titles; and shoddy construction work of government housing units.
The policy of my Government is that there should be a roof over every head. Every citizen should enjoy the right to housing. Every home, in turn should belong to a community in which our citizens can enjoy good health, fresh air and clean water; where they walk the streets free from molestation, benefit from good roads, streetlights and pavements and where their children can have access to a sound education and facilities for play and recreation. This is our vision of housing. It is an achievable vision, which can lead to the good life for all.
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