B’dos in need of more resilient housing stock

Government will be working to ensure that the country has a more resilient housing stock that can stand up to more intense storms and hurricanes, given the issues with climate change.

Minister in the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Investment, Marsha Caddle, acknowledged the above as she spoke about Government’s housing agenda in the House of Assembly on Tuesday morning.

Speaking of Government’s Roofs to Reefs Programme, Caddle said, “This represents the new development model for Barbados over the next couple of decades. What it essentially allows us to do is to measure the infrastructure of the homes of regular Barbadians, so we are able to understand what we know will be the increasing extreme effects of climate change.”

“Related to that, you would have seen that we recently convened through the Ministry of Transport, Works and Maintenance, a consultation to look very specifically at how we are building. How we are building the homes of low and middle-income Barbadians, to make sure that we get practical about this. We don’t want to go and build a roof on a home that has a pitch that we know cannot withstand a hurricane at a certain strength, when we can build in anticipation of what we know will happen,” she added.

Caddle meanwhile stated her belief that a request for proposals has already gone out for people to submit ideas and designs, so building standards can be improved to ensure the housing stock is more resilient and Barbadians can spend and invest their money in homes that are not vulnerable to extreme weather events.

Pointing out that she did not visit The Bahamas following the latest disaster there, she however stated that it has been noted that the homes which were able to withstand the severe hurricane that passed there, were those which were built to a certain standard.

“We were told that the homes that were left standing were the ones that were built in a certain era, with roofs at a certain pitch, where the old builders and carpenters and artisans understood how to build for resilience and so this is another part of the housing planning and development approach, to making sure that we adhere and stay focused on the commitment made in the manifesto,” Caddle remarked. (RSM)