Former president of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) Verla DePeiza and Opposition Leader Ralph Thorne blasted the government’s focus on high-end developments and luxury real estate projects, questioning whether the country’s future is being built for ordinary Barbadians or the benefit of wealthy foreigners and investors.
They have also called out the current administration’s economic policies, accusing the government of ignoring the housing needs of citizens in favour of corporate interests.
Speaking during a DLP town hall meeting themed Honest Voices for the People:
Who is Taking Care of Us on Sunday night, DePeiza was unequivocal in her assessment of what she termed the government’s misplaced priorities.
She zeroed in on what she described as rapid gentrification taking hold across the island, with new luxury hotels and villas cropping up, suggesting that affordable housing for nationals is a distant priority.
“We are building more hotels, more villas, but where are our people supposed to live?” she asked.
The attorney-at-law argued that while these developments are heralded as economic boons, they primarily benefit foreign investors and the affluent, leaving ordinary Barbadians priced out of their own communities. “Gentrification is pushing our people out of their homes and their lands, and the government is doing nothing to stop it,” she said.
Her remarks struck at the heart of the current housing dilemma and painted a picture of displacement and disenfranchisement. The rapid influx of high-end developments, DePeiza noted, was leaving Barbadians with fewer affordable options, deepening economic inequality.
“These developments are not for us,” she said. “They are pricing our people out of the neighbourhoods they’ve lived in for generations.”
She declared there was a growing disconnect between government rhetoric about progress and the reality on the ground: “How can we call this progress when the very people who built this country can no longer afford to live in it?”
Thorne, echoing DePeiza’s criticisms, said the government’s housing strategy was out of touch with the needs of ordinary Barbadians. He questioned the true beneficiaries of the government’s high-profile development projects.
“This government is more concerned with its own image than with the well-being of our people,” he said. “They are building for others, not for us.”
Opposition Leader Ralph Thorne. (FP)
The opposition leader focused on the social inequality deepened by these projects, stressing that while the government promotes these developments as symbols of economic growth, they largely serve foreign interests and have left the ordinary Barbadian on the outside looking in. “When we look at these developments, we have to ask: Who is benefiting? It’s not the working-class Barbadian. It’s not the family who has lived in the same home for decades. It’s the investors, the foreign developers, the tourists,” he charged.
Thorne’s criticism went further, calling out the government’s approach to development as one that is skewed towards business interests at the expense of the people it is supposed to serve: “When we prioritise hotels and villas over homes for our people, we are telling Barbadians that they don’t matter. We are pushing them out of their communities, out of their lands, and telling them that their place in this country is less important than a five-star resort.”
Both DePeiza and Thorne zeroed in on the lack of affordable housing as a ticking time bomb, warning that unless urgent action is taken, Barbados could face an unprecedented housing crisis.
DePeiza asked: “Our people are being displaced, and no one is asking the question: Where are they supposed to go?”
Thorne was equally forceful, framing the housing crisis as a betrayal of the government’s duty to its citizens.
“This is not just about economics,” he said. “If we don’t take urgent action, we will lose not just homes but communities, culture, and the very essence of what it means to be Barbadian.” (RG)
