The Core Homes Project has sparked widespread interest with over 200 persons returning applications and the designs have been completed as well as area selection and identification for homes along the coastal belt, Minister of Housing and Water, Irfaan Ali says.
The Core Homes Project is a collaborative effort between Govern-ment and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and falls under the Second Low Income Settlement Programme (LIS) that will be executed at a cost of US$27.9M. It is expected to improve access of low-income families to enhanced living conditions through a wide range of housing solutions and access to house lots.
The minister said that the first set of core homes in some of the housing schemes should be finished by the end of the third quarter, the Government Information Agency (GINA) reported.
The Housing Ministry is aiming to provide 113 affordable homes to low income families by the end of this year. Community Development Specialist, Donell Bess-Bascom told GINA yesterday that the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) has received 263 applications so far.
She said that interviews have been completed for four of the areas – Lusignan Area ‘B’, Section ‘E’ Non Pariel, Westminster Phase One and Tabatinga, Lethem in Region Nine. There have been 28 applications for Lusignan, 35 for Non Pariel, 72 for Westminster, 81 for Block ‘B’ Bath Phase One and 47 for Tabatinga, GINA stated.
“These are the ones we will be processing at this time. We had initially intended to construct 10 in Lusignan, 18 for Non Pariel, 30 for Westminster, 15 in Bath and 40 in Tabatinga but it is possible that these numbers can change after the evaluation process,” Bess-Bascom is quoted as saying.
She noted that some persons may not qualify based on the state of the land, ownership and other variables which may mean an increase of homes in some areas and a decrease in others.
Explaining the evaluation process, Bess-Bascom said that checks will be made to verify the status of the plot as against the ministry’s database after which an assessment of the level of need will be carried out before the applicants are ranked by criteria.
Neighbourhood and Regional Democratic Councils (NDCs and RDCs) will also be involved in verifying issues of ownership and eligibility based on need before it is sent to a selection committee.
“It’s a long process and not as simple as it sounds because we want to ensure that those who are really deserving get a chance to own these homes,” the Community Develop-ment Specialist said.
She added that actual construction has not started but the CH&PA has almost completed interviews for the selected core home communities, GINA reported.
