HOUSING SOLUTIONS

THE Barbados Labour Party (BLP) candidate for St. John says if elected, providing housing solutions will be among his plans for the constituency.
Charles Griffith stated this and other plans as he addressed the spot meeting held in Carter’s, St. John on Monday night.
He told attendees and those viewing on Facebook and Instagram that “174 housing solutions are coming at Pool.” He further explained, “when I say housing solutions, I am not talking housing solutions for persons who are making $5000. I am talking persons who are making $2000 to $3000 per month.”
Griffith on the night also spoke about plans to provide job opportunities for young constituents. He spoke about Project Phoenix which has already had
its soft launch. He stated this programme is focused on agriculture and allows for young people to be trained to be farmers.
“I spoke to Indar [Weir] and the ministry agreed that 50 acres of land would be made available for persons at Wakefield and hence, we had a soft launch of Project Phoenix with those youngsters where they were able to do the training online that we will see farmers...Where we are going to ensure that not only the youngsters are producing the product, but we are going to make sure that females have some kind of training that will ensure that they too can make money as a result of this particular project at the location.”
The BLP candidate also spoke about provisions being made for vendors.
“The old polyclinic is going to be converted into a vendors’ mall. Why?
Because we cannot afford to allow government buildings that can be repurposed to just fall apart and become another vagrant location. So, drawings are being prepared and they are being ready to go to Town Planning for approval that would put 12 stalls, for want at a better word at this time, inside of the old polyclinic.”
Griffith in his remarks spoke about two programmes which are intended to positively impact the lives of constituents. The first being the Building Linkages Programme which he said “is being run from out of my branch office at Clifton Hall.”
He indicated this Programme targets young men and women who have made mistakes and it seeks to give them a second chance. “You go to jail for something that is a mistake, maybe you were walking with the wrong person,
should you be ostracised from being able to hold a job or to get involved in training? I say tonight, ‘no’ and hence the Building Linkages will seek to get those persons who are exiting the prison system back into mainstream society.”
The second programme Griffith spoke about is a parenting programme. He said the constituency is in need of such a sustained initiative.
“Why? Because in my books, education and our young people are the next wave of what is good in this consistency, so they must not be left by the wayside. So hence my proposal after you have done what you are suppose to do on the 19th is to ensure that we have training programmes that we get the best out of everyone who is called a mother in this constituency.”(MG)