Minister of Housing, Lands and Rural Development, Denis Kellman making a point.

Minister of Housing, Lands and Rural Development, Denis Kellman making a point. 

Minister looking to address housing issues

 

Minister of Housing, Lands and Rural Development, Denis Kellman, has again raised the issue of the large number of unoccupied houses in the country, and he is suggesting that a study may be required to identify why these properties remain empty.
 
He was speaking during a press briefing at the Ministry of Housing, Lands and Rural Development, to update the media on this week’s United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development, commonly referred to as Habitat III, which is being held in Quito, Ecuador. His comments came as he said that efforts also have to be made to see how those properties can be brought back into the housing stock in order to help meet the housing needs and demands of Barbadians.
 
“We as a small island developing state cannot afford to be demolishing houses that we can make good use of,” he said.
 
The Minister added, “I have already identified a section within the Act… and we also have the Health Act and we also have the Land Acquisition Act, and those are things we would have to put to Cabinet because we cannot afford to waste resources.”
 
He is adamant that Government has to find a way to ensure that houses are not abandoned and allowed to become dilapidated. Moreover, he said that in addition to returning those properties to the occupied status, he wants to encourage ordinary householders to reconfigure their large homes to provide rental accommodation for persons.
 
Wasted space
“Something we will also have to look at is the situation where we have in Barbados large homes where only two people are living in those homes, and we will have to see how we can encourage those persons to recognise that we cannot afford as a small island developing state to have waste space… and create something called a commercial living house,” he said.
 
Kellman explained, “That is, you are able to live in your house, but at the same time recognise that you can separate that house in such a way that you can create revenue for yourself while accommodating other persons. And one of the things I might also be able to do is ask persons to look at the possibility – recognising that they would have already paid the mortgage most likely – that they need not to be so harsh on those new persons looking to find a solution and that the rent does not necessarily have to be at a very high rate.”
 
Kellman said that in such cases the rent could be placed at an “accommodating rate”, suggesting that Barbados needs to return to the “village life” and embrace the culture of looking after each other.
 
Meanwhile, on the topic of undeveloped residential lots, the Housing and Lands Minister said this is not a major concern for him at this time, what is of concern, he said, is when those lots are allowed to become overgrown with bush as it would pose an environmental problem. As such, he is encouraging persons to ensure their lots are kept clean. (JRT)
 
 
 

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