- NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 24/Aug 08:19

Fundamental changes needed in state-funded housing programme

THE EDITOR: The State's provision of affordable housing to low and middle-income applicants has been delivered primarily by the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) and, to a lesser extent, the Land Settlement Agency (LSA). The current housing policy - Showing Trinidad & Tobago a New Way Home – was established in 2002 with the ambitious target of producing 100,000 new homes within a decade. Before the HDC was established in 2005, that role was fulfilled by the National Housing Authority (NHA), which was established in 1962. Despite allocations of public money and private sector borrowings exceeding $20 billion since 2002, the NHA/HDC completed less than 25,000 new homes. Beyond the gross totals and their serious implications lies a more insidious issue: the actual effectiveness of this large-scale public housing programme when we consider the human element. The HDC Act stipulates that its purpose as a statutory agency is to facilitate affordable housing for low and middle-income applicants. Yet over 90 per cent of applicants on the HDC waiting list cannot qualify for a mortgage because they are simply too poor, while only 21 per cent of new HDC homes are available for rent. Given the amounts of public money invested in this program and the desperate housing needs of our poorest citizens, this represents a tremendous misallocation of scarce resources. The HDC's low output compared to original targets, combined with its failure to serve the majority of applicants for affordable housing, constitutes a serious indictment of its performance. Since 2003, NHA/HDC has not had audited financial statements, so there are substantial financial accountability issues in addition to those noted earlier. HDC stated that the financial statements for 2003 to 2009 were audited, but those financial statements were accompanied by independent auditors reports, issued by KPMG chartered accountants, every one of which was subject to a disclaimer of opinion. The disclaimer of opinion is many times worse than a mere qualified audit since it means that the auditor has so little confidence in the records that it is impossible to form a responsible professional opinion. During the recently concluded election campaign, I was astonished by Jearlean John's promise to deliver 500 new homes per week and "...we are looking to build at least 10,000 houses per year..." if the UNC were elected. Ms John served as HDC's managing director from November 2009 to March 2016 and provided serious assistance to my public housing research during that period. There is no doubt that she is well-informed on these matters. The Housing Ministry now has a Minister and two Ministers of State – a considerable commitment of political capital to this important public policy area. We must avoid the errors of the past if we are to do better. If the newly-elected UNC administration wishes to succeed where others have failed, it must act fundamentally differently from the previous PNM government. via e-mail Afra Raymond afraraymond.net The post Fundamental changes needed in state-funded housing programme appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.