For years, squatters at Rock Hall, St Philip, have lived with the promise of relocation, but many remain in limbo, waiting for answers from Government which they say seems to have forgotten them.
“I would walk by around Christmas time hoping I’d be moving . . . and I was not one that was selected,” Yvette Drakes said recently.
Drakes, who said she just has seven years left before reaching pension age, represented the frustration of those squatters who have watched others receive new homes while they abide in what Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley once described as “not liveable” conditions.
The relocation of Rock Hall’s estimated 300 squatters as been a long-standing Government commitment. In 2023, then Minister of Housing and Lands Dwight Sutherland announced ambitious plans to relocate 227 residents, with some moved to newly-constructed homes in Concordia Gardens and Dodds in St Philip, and
other areas. He promised the others would be relocated within three years.
However, residents reported that very few people have been relocated, with estimates ranging between only 20 and 30 individuals.
In addition, some lament about a breakdown in communication, with a lack of updates or official correspondence from Government.
“They don’t send letters. They don’t send anything,” Drakes said. “The only thing they do when they’re ready is walk through.”
Cherise Arnold, whose family has been seeking permission for basic repairs to weather-proof their home, echoed this frustration: “We haven’t been hearing anything much about it. Nobody has been communicating
with us properly. There needs to be better communication. We just keep getting the runaround.”
Arnold said her family received contradictory instructions – first being given verbal permission for safety reinforcements, then receiving a notice prohibiting any construction work. When they sought written permission from the National Housing Corporation, they were met with silence, she added.
“So they can’t tell us when we’re moving but yet can give us a notice that we can’t do repairs on what we have,” she told the DAILY NATION.
While some housing has been constructed, residents report several problems with the relocation process. The new homes, according to Drakes, are delivered as basic shells requiring them to install their own cupboards and fixtures.
Meanwhile, some squatters who were supposed to move never dismantled their old homes, leading
to reoccupation of the original sites.
“The people moved but the houses are still on the spot, which is a slight mistake to me in Government,”
Drakes observed.
She noted that during the first wave of relocations, Government officials were present to oversee the dismantling of old structures, but this was absent during subsequent moves.
For Rodney Raymon, who has lived in Rock Hall 20 years, the new houses do not meet his family’s needs.
“The houses too small for me because my family is a seven-member house. Those houses cannot fit all of us,” he said, adding he believed his current home was worth more than what the Government was offering.
He has begun looking for land independently. “I can’t wait for Government. It’s been too many years.”
Drakes said that contrary to public perception, they were not seeking free housing, as under the swap programme, they pay for the land while Government provides the house structure.
“A lot of people out there think that Government is giving us something free. They are not. We have to pay for the land,” she stressed.
Raymon expressed frustration about the State providing land to Afreximbank for a new facility while they remain in limbo.
“I feel stink. They don’t care for the people of this island. They care about people who got money,” he charged.
With hurricane season an annual threat, Raymon said they were caught between wanting to make safety improvements, and prohibition orders preventing basic repairs.
“When the hurricane season come and my family in trouble, all of them will be comfortable and my family is to be left out to sea?” he asked.
The squatters’ patience is wearing thin. Arnold called for monthly updates from authorities, while others simply want acknowledgement of their situation.
Attempts to reach Sutherland recently for the latest on the relocation plans – before his resignation on September 3 – were unsuccessful.
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