Relief promised

Housing Minister Dwight Sutherland has indicated that the government will review policies that prevent contracted public sector workers from securing mortgages due to their terms of employment. 

At a Barbados Labour Party St George North branch meeting on Sunday, he commented on the issue as he responded to a question from an audience member who expressed difficulty obtaining a mortgage as a contracted worker.

“I think we too have to relook that policy of contract workers not being able to [secure a mortgage],” Sutherland told the audience at the Cuthbert Moore Primary School. “These are some of the things we will be discussing with the lending institutions.”

The minister explained that since contracted workers receive their pay directly into their accounts, mortgage payments could be deducted similarly to other loan repayments. However, he acknowledged that the wording of employment letters can sometimes pose a barrier.

“Sometimes, too, it is also how the letters are written…it is how you couch your letter, the language in the letter also [matters],” Sutherland said, adding that the government’s rent-to-own homeownership programme currently serves as an alternative for contracted workers.

In addition to addressing mortgage concerns, Sutherland announced that four major housing projects were approved by the National Housing Corporation (NHC) last Thursday. These include developments in St Philip, Christ Church, and St George, totalling more than 750 houses.

In Christ Church, approvals have been granted to start at St Bartholomew with 42 houses, and Coverley with 36 houses, he said, adding that in St George, Harmony Cottage will have 80 houses. 

The largest project, comprising 600 houses, will be built at Vineyard, St Philip – the government’s largest housing project this year – through a joint venture between the NHC and a private developer. Sutherland said that such partnerships allow the NHC to provide land while developers fund infrastructure and construction using the NHC’s database of 29 000 applicants “that include ordinary public servants [and] gas station attendants”.

The minister further revealed plans to identify a developer for a 30-acre site on Old Post Office Road to build additional homes. (SZB)