At 9 am today, the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) is due to hold the first housing lottery for Lombard Street squatters as part of a long-awaited relocation plan.
According to a press release from the CH&PA, 20 of the 49 families will today be allocated land at Prospect, on the East Bank of Demerara.
Following the allocations, the CH&PA, in collaboration with the Food for the Poor (FFP) organization, will spend the next 10 weeks constructing homes for the families.
The other families will be relocated later this year after the development of lands in Cummings Lodge.
Some of the families, who had been promised relocation over two years ago, were victims of a recent fire, which destroyed several homes.
As a result, some are not waiting on government and at least one building is already under construction.
During a visit to the area, Stabroek News observed several residents whose homes were destroyed asking for donations so that they could rebuild.
Those who spoke with this newspaper explained that while they would be happy for the promised land, they couldn’t depend on a promise that has taken more than two years.
“We need somewhere to go now. Right now, I’m at the Night Shelter with my three daughters and they don’t really have facilities for children,” a resident noted.
City Engineer Colvern Venture is also concerned about the impact of allowing persons to continue to occupy they area.
“Those are not the living conditions I, as engineer, want to see or that the city should encourage. It is not very healthy and does not conform to any living standards. The building standards are in total breach of the building regulations and guides set out in the bylaws,” Venture explained.
He, however, noted that he is not likely to evict the occupants on his own. “Taking into consideration the history of that space and the various attempts made by Central Government to relocate these individuals, I would want to work with the Minister of Social Protection, Ministry of Public Health and the Council’s own Social Welfare Committee. I do not want to go there alone as City Engineer. We can’t just break the places and they have nowhere to go,” he said.
This relocation of the residents of the area has been an ongoing project since 2011, when two house Lot 17 and Lot 18 Lombard Street were destroyed in an Easter morning fire.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and then Minister of Social Protection visited the area in September 2016.
A statement from the IACHR following the visit said in part, “during its visit to the neighbourhood of Lombard Street, the IACHR delegation was shocked by the extreme poverty and precarious living conditions of its inhabitants. The community comprises approximately 40 adults and 80 children with clear housing, sanitation, and health problems, as well as limited work opportunities and scant social services provided by the State.”
The IACHR’s statement also called on the State to adopt urgent steps to improve the socioeconomic status of the Lombard Street residents and to create, immediately and without delay, conditions that allow them to exercise all their human rights.
Immediately following the IACHR statement, Stabroek News visited and was told by the residents that all they want is land.
Government subsequently announced that a $70 million development project would be undertaken to relocate the families. FFP has committed $43 million.
On July 31st, 2017, residents were told that they would be moved to Barnwell North in Mocha, however, the relocation plan, which was being facilitated by the CH&PA, did not come to fruition, as it was later revealed that the land was unsuitable for the relocation due to the condition of the soil.
Initially, the CH&PA and the Mocha-Arcadia Neighborhood Democratic Council (NDC) had been at odds over the relocation after the latter learned about the plan through the media. This had led to the residents of the Lombard Street squatting area protesting outside of the Mocha Arcadia NDC in October of 2017, asking to be welcomed to the community.
Several months later CH&PA Chief Executive Officer Lelon Saul had announced that with the land identified at Barnwell being deemed unsuitable for the move, the agency was looking to relocate the squatters to Cummings Lodge, Greater Georgetown.
