Major restructuring underway at NHC

The National Housing Corporation (NHC) is undergoing a major restructuring, says Minister of Housing Dwight Sutherland.

While giving remarks at a special church service on Sunday to mark the corporation’s 50th anniversary at St Luke’s Anglican Church in St George, Sutherland said that the time had come for the NHC, like other state-owned enterprises, to restructure due to hard financial times.

“The NHC is expected to undergo a period of reconstruction and transformation. There comes a time when great institutions have to reimagine and reinvent themselves if they are to remain relevant and emerge stronger and more fit for purpose as time and circumstances change. And so it is with the NHC as well,” he said.

“When Government assumed office in 2018 NHC had an accumulated debt of nearly $200 million. Under the BERT (Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation) programme this Government brought that debt down to almost zero.

“The domestic and global financial and economic environment has changed so drastically that most state-owned enterprises (SOE) in Barbados have been forced to restructure. NHC has fallen into this category as well and just as it has transformed the lives of so many of us, now itself falls to be transformed.”

Sutherland said the NHC will no longer be responsible for mass construction projects and that role will be passed on to HOPE Inc, another SOE.

“NHC will not be undertaking the multiple mass construction projects that previously have contributed to an unmanageable accumulation of Government debt and transfers. For the time being, this role has fallen to HOPE Inc., which is a 100 per cent Government owned company that is expected to be completely self financing with only initial bridging financing provided by Government. Both HOPE Inc and NHC will assist and complement each other as this Government continues to roll out its 10 000 housing programme.”

The Minister added that the NHC will be repositioned to engage in joint venture projects with developers, who have financing to install infrastructure and construct houses for low and middle income Barbadians; to focus more on rebuilding its rental stock for persons who simply will be unable to transition to home ownership in the near future; and to develop a 30-year rent to own policy which would see persons, who can’t easily access mortgages from financial institutions or pay high market rents, pay affordable rents until they are able to purchase the rental houses and apartments.

He also said NHC will be mainly focused on completing the 20-year transfer of terrace units programme to the approximately 2 700 qualified tenants; and to help develop and manage community improvement projects such Work Hall, St Philip and Greenfields in The CIty.

In his speech, Sutherland added that although the corporation’s housing role had minimise, it still had an important function in Government achieving its “ambitious housing revolution”.

Sutherland said NHC will be involved in a number of programmes such as “the construction of 10 000 affordable houses across Barbados, 900 of which have already been completed by the NHC and through joint venture partnerships with the private sector; and capping of the price of Government land at $12 a square foot for low income earners”.

Sutherland said will also be responsible for planning a gains initiative to allow Government to access significant parcels of land. This has already borne fruit with the state gaining access to 40 acres at Lower Burney, St George; 12 acres at Branchbury, St Joseph; 30 acres at Bright Hall, St Lucy; and 30 acres at Searles Christ Church.

The NHC will also be pivotal as it relates to the utilisation of photovoltaic systems to make mortgages more easily accessible; the creation of a 30 year  rent-to-own policy; and the utilisation of the housing credit fund to finance the construction of the housing stock across the island to include steel-framed house as well as hardwood houses, from as low as $99 000, through partnerships with Dura Villa in Guyana. (SZB)