The view from Margaret Carter’s house is not one that makes her happy.
Every day she has to look at her ex-husband’s comfortable home next door while their once marital home where she resides is falling to pieces.
And while Government rebuilt the house which her former husband Granville Carter lives in at Silver Hill Village, Christ Church, after it was destroyed during Hurricane Beryl
in 2024, Margaret is questioning why the house she occupies was not given the same attention since she had made a request through the Rural/ Urban Development Commission several years ago for the house to be rebuilt.
She is of the opinion that her former husband who she said was a devoted member of the Christ Church West Central constituency was blocking her from getting the house repaired.
Rotation
However, when contacted, the parliamentary representative for the constituency Adrian Forde, said the house was in rotation to be repaired.
“There are two houses located on the property – one occupied by Mr Carter’s mother and the other which was occupied by Mr Carter and his wife. Both houses were brought to the attention of Rural and Urban Development for repairs. The decision was made to repair the one which had concerned his elderly mother first which was in a bad state . . . .
“The house which is occupied by the wife now and which was occupied by both of them before, that is in rotation to be repaired. There is nothing else to it. Of course, there are a lot of houses that the Rural and Urban Development is considering from my constituency.”
The 63-year-old Margaret, who is unemployed and suffers from various ailments including a neck injury and injury to her feet, said her property had now deteriorated beyond repair.
“The house is leaning, the flooring boards are rotten and I have to be careful how I walk,” she said, as she lifted a rug to reveal gaping holes throughout the floor.
Margaret said she had fallen and injured herself several times.
She also expressed fears about the electricity in the house.
“The house needs rewiring. When we turn on the switches the lights flicker and get hot. Some of the switches have already burnt out,” she cried.
Margaret recalled that when officials from the Rural/Urban development visited the properties before the house next door was repaired one of them told her: “This house in court so we can’t touch it.”
She said: “I went to Granville and I ask him if he tell the people this house in court and he start to get on. This house is a mess and he is out there living in comfort,” she cried.
Copies of letters
The matter remains unresolved as evidenced by several copies of letters from the attorneys involved.
This column spoke to Granville Carter – who is visually impaired – at length about the situation and he gave a detailed response indicating that he was not blocking any repairs to the house.
However, he contacted this newspaper later that day and said he had been advised by a “friend” not to say anything. He also ordered the paper not to publish what his former wife had said and not to publish any photos showing the two properties. (MB)
The post Woman appeals for house relief appeared first on nationnews.com.
