Some 3 892 long-term tenants of National Housing Corporation (NHC) units are set to become homeowners under new legislation passed on Wednesday to sweep away years of administrative delays – a move that independent senators welcomed as a long-overdue measure with transformative social impact.
The housing estates under the bill are Deacons Farm, Grazettes, Fernihurst, Wildey, Bonnetts, Golden Acre, Silver Hill, Gall Hill and Wotton.
In brief remarks as the chamber approved the State (Acquisition and Vesting of Property) Bill, independent senators Karina Goodridge and Jamal Slocombe hailed the legislation as having a potentially transformational impact on low-income earners.
Senator Goodridge said: “This bill is quite an important one because we know the housing issues in Barbados, and we know the cries of many Barbadians, where they have stated that they were on the list for so long. So this bill does not only just bring a practical answer and solution to the long-standing issues that many Barbadians have faced, but it will cement the fact that persons who are waiting for so long will now become homeowners and that gives those people a sense of security. This is a bill that really and truly should have been implemented ever since.”
She stressed that there was a need for transparency and urged the current administration to ensure that those tenants who “rightfully deserve” the properties were the ones to receive them.
“My thing is that the persons who rightfully deserve it, are the ones who should rightfully have the property, because there is some anecdotal evidence that some persons may have paid $20 or $30 rent to individuals, but the persons who paid this rent are not living in the house. Instead, they’ll probably put people in the house, and then they demand profitable rents. I didn’t want to forget that point. So these are things that happen here in our society, where the persons who will be rightfully entitled are the ones that, perhaps sometimes, will be displaced, and we don’t want that.”
Senator Goodridge suggested that each applicant should be required to state when they began renting the unit and their gross monthly earnings, adding that the latter could be verified with the Barbados Revenue Authority.
Senator Slocombe urged that the process be expedited as much as possible, stating that such actions have serious implications for low-income people.
“We recognise there are people who in those small housing units, there are seven and eight people living in two-bedroom houses sometimes, and it provides a unique opportunity for Barbadians to be able to feel a sense of pride and dignity,” he stated.
In introducing the bill, the leader of government business in the Senate, Senator Lisa Cummins, pointed out that 3 892 people will be converted from long-term renters to property owners, allowing them to unlock economic opportunities that come with home ownership.
She highlighted that, unlike the previous 2013 legislation, which resulted in each unit having to be conveyed on a case-by-case basis, all of the properties will be vested in the State and then immediately vested in qualified tenants.
Eligibility will be granted to tenants who have lived in the units for 20 or more years, are in good financial standing and are compliant with structural and statutory requirements, she told lawmakers.
Senator Cummins added: “There is no burden on the beneficiaries. It is an intra-state transfer from NHC to the State. It allows for the best benefits to be accrued to both the agency, and it allows first and foremost for us to deliver with this piece of legislation on the 2013 legislative intent of the vesting that was meant to take place there, where only 567 of over 3 900 took forever to be conveyed. With this piece of legislation, it is one fell swoop for all of them in one action.”
(JB)
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