The Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T) Company has donated $1 million to Habitat for Humanity.
This is the 17th consecutive year that the company has supported underprivileged persons through the NGO, a press release said. Rawle Small, National Director of Habitat for Humanity Guyana said the donation will help to complete a special 20th anniversary house which will be given free of cost to a family in need. He also lauded the strong relations between the two organisations and congratulated GT&T on its longstanding commitment.
Small, along with panellists Professor Clive Thomas, Jennifer Cipriani and Leonard Gildarie participated in a World Habitat Day panel discussion, held at the Theatre Guild, with a view to “Re-think Housing.” The session examined two central issues: access to affordable housing in Guyana and the impact of affordable housing on breaking the cycle of poverty among Guyanese families. Habitat revealed that it will soon publish a study it conducted to explore these issues.
At the meeting, it became apparent that a National Housing Policy needs to be established, as opposed to a Government Housing Policy. There was also a call for local commercial banks to treat mortgages and mortgage assessments with an asset-based approach as opposed to a liability or debt-based approach as the former considers the equity and overall value of the mortgage over time.
Other key issues that became apparent was the need for greater collaboration and partnership among the different market actors within the housing sector, the need to revolutionise housing finance models such as housing micro-finance, rent-to-own, accessible tax credits to mortgagors, particularly low-income earning families, and the need to establish a national homeowners association and updated property rights regulation and localised governance. The audience which included school-age children who were invited to ask questions, called for another forum to discuss other housing issues and opportunities.
World Habitat Day was observed under the theme ‘Voices from Slums’, the press release said.
