By Subhana Shiwmangal
Squatters at Hill Foot, Soesdyke-Linden Highway, whose homes were demolished on May 31 following a court order, held a small protest on Sunday to express their dissatisfaction with how the Ministry of Housing is handling the issue of turn-key houses and lands promised to them.
The protest which consisted of about fifteen persons, took place on the main road at Soesdyke, East Bank Demerara and lasted from 9 am to 12:30 pm. The residents were initially removed from the road on the night of May 31 following their first protest, but returned with discarded materials blocking the flow of traffic from both sides of the public thoroughfare on June 1. They lit the debris and as police sought to put out the fire, tensions ran high resulting in a clash between the police and civilians.
The squatters have been calling on the government for some three weeks now, since they have not received any positive response about the availability of lands or turn-key homes. They say they are presently living in deplorable conditions. Some protestors who spoke with Stabroek News this week asserted that the protest will go on if they are not given any satisfactory answers.
The squatters maintain that promises were made by staff of the Ministry of Housing during their visit to Hill Foot on June 1 and to date they haven’t received a positive response. The squatters informed that they have only received hampers and those haven’t been much help as they are without homes.
Chief Executive Officer of the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA), Sherwyn Greaves, in a response to the concerns of the Hill Foot squatters, explained that three families have opted for turn- key homes from a sister agency that is also involved in the process to offer solutions. He noted that another two Hill Foot families have indicated their interest in land from the CHPA while others are being engaged by the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GLSC) for plots on the Soesdyke-Linden Highway. He said that all families have started these transactions.
Greaves said that to give an update as to how long the process will take for the squatters to receive their turn-key homes or lands will depend on a number of factors including how far the construction of the houses has gone and when the squatters can make their payments.
In relation to the squatters being allowed to stay on the land at Hill Foot until they receive their turn-key homes or lands, he said that this can only be determined by the owner of the property, Lawrence Al-Meen. The ministry, he noted, has no say in the matter because the lands at Hill Foot are privately owned. However, he added that the ministry in collaboration with the agency, has intervened in the best way they know how by offering solutions.
Concerning the offering of building material to squatters, Greaves said he was unable to comment and iterated that transactions for the turn-key homes and lands are being processed.
Fowl pen
One Hill Foot squatter, Adreana Torres, said that the protest on Sunday came about because persons from within the Ministry of Housing had promised to help them acquire turn-key homes or house lots when they had visited the squatters on June 1. She related that since then she has been living in a fowl pen with her family. Torres said that since she is pregnant, she and her extended family are in need of a home or building materials to rebuild a home until lands are available through the Housing Ministry. She contended that it was difficult to rent a place since the landlords she visited, could not accommodate the poultry that she is currently rearing. Further, when it rains, nothing much can be done in the area since the place floods and water sometimes gets into the fowl pen she’s presently living in.
For the past three weeks, Torres said, she and her family have been visiting the Ministry of Housing to enquire about the status of her turn-key home, but so far they have not received any positive results. She noted that last week Tuesday when she visited the Ministry of Housing, a representative told her that Greaves has to sign off on a document and when that is completed, someone from the Ministry will call her. She contended that people were able to stay on the land while they pursue either a turn-key home or a house lot. After the protest that occurred on Sunday, she still hasn’t heard from the ministry in relation to their offer. She acknowledged that the government did help the family with a hamper, and understands that they are trying to help, but the Housing system is not moving fast enough as the deplorable conditions worsen for her and her extended family.
Alicia Reets, another squatter, added that after the protest no one from the government reached out concerning an available place for her and family to live comfortably. She too mentioned that the last visit by persons within the Ministry of Housing on June 1, promised land or turn-key homes for squatters but so far they have been getting the run-around.
Since the demolishing of the squatters’ homes, some families such as hers, have had no choice but to live in a shack. She said that she had enquired from a government official about the time it took to obtain a turn-key home or land and was told that the matter is being looked into. She noted that she was also told that there are people ahead of her and that she has to wait, although she explained she was living in deplorable conditions. She stressed that the squatters of Hill Foot will continue to protest until they receive a positive response from the government. She said that a parliamentarian from the APNU/PNCR visited too and provided some plastic sheeting to mitigate the deplorable state but that didn’t help very much. She said that she received a hamper from the government but questioned its importance at the moment since having a comfortable place to live in, is needed more.
Radica Kamal, a single parent of two, said that although she was at work when the protest started, she is joining the call for the government to assist with building materials since she has been waiting for over three weeks now for the turn-key home. She explained that she too is living in a shack after her home was demolished. She also received her hamper from the government, but also said that that was not important, if she doesn’t have a proper roof over her head.
She added that the shack she’s living in doesn’t have a proper foundation and nobody within the Ministry of Housing is saying anything significant to enable her “to live to live properly.” The response she receives every time she goes into the Ministry of Housing is that they don’t have any available lands and for her to be patient as they will call her once they have something available. Kamal noted that the people were told by Al-Meen they can stay on the land until lands or turn-key homes are made available but up to now, she’s waiting to see if she can get building materials to rebuild a proper structure to live with her children. She added that, she too will continue to protest until she feels that she is taken seriously by the government. She feels that the system is not moving as quickly as it should in emergency cases such as hers.
Another Hill Foot squatter, Suruj Shanlall, also said that he will continue to protest until he receives a positive response from the Ministry of Housing. He explained that every time he called into the Ministry of Housing to check on the status of the land, he’s told by a representative that there’s no available place as yet. He said he was told by a staff member of the ministry that, “there’s going to be a meeting with Greaves in relation to the situation so be patient, the Ministry will call.” He too is calling on the Ministry of Housing to help him acquire a home. As it stands, he and his family of five including a baby on the way, are living with a friend. However he is worried since it has been already three weeks that he is waiting on a positive response from the ministry and the current living arrangement is only temporary. He said that he doesn’t know if he will soon have to pay rent for the home he’s living in or will have to find somewhere else to go. He opined that in an emergency case such as this, the ministry should help the squatters as most of them are living in deplorable state at the moment.
The homes at Hill Foot were demolished on May 31 following the execution of a court order issued on April 3 in favour of Al-Meen to have the squatters removed.
The area was said to accommodate a large number of homes and about 40 were destroyed. Other residents begged the owner for time to evacuate their homes and were given about three days to do so.
Residents of the demolished houses were left counting their losses as items such as their home appliances and other belongings were destroyed in the eviction. Most of them had nowhere to go and had to sleep in their cars, a fowl pen, and at neighbours, while some bedded down in the same demolished homes with their children.
Also, as a result of the demolitions, one woman was left nursing three pellet wounds to her hand and back as a result of the police allegedly firing on her in their attempts to evict her from her home. Another person was taken into police custody after scuffling with them in a bid to save his home.
On June 3, the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security said that it ensured that over 400 of those affected at Hill Foot received support.
This support which was made though the Difficult Circumstances Unit came in the form of 40 mattresses, 6 stoves, 200 hampers, 100 blankets, 100 bed sheets, 100 pillows, 100 mosquito nets, baby food including milk and Nestum, baby care items, baby clothes, pots, pans, cups and plates.
