Government backbencher Trevor Prescod has taken the administration to task for what he sees as a double standard when it comes to housing projects in the island.
Speaking in the House of Assembly on Tuesday, during the debate on the Crown Lands (Vesting and Disposal) Act, the St Michael East MP questioned why the use of land could be changed for some projects while it was not done to provide housing for low-income earners.
Making reference to the proposed construction of a new Geriatric Hospital in the area of the National Botanical Gardens in Waterford, Prescod acknowledged the importance of that project but questioned the change in policy that prevented large-scale construction in the area of the Belle, given its importance to the island’s water supply.
“How can you change the use of the land to build a geriatric hospital and you can’t change the use also to accommodate these people even on the borders?” he said.
Prescod suggested that changes could be made to use former plantation grounds, such as the Belle and Drax Hall plantations, to expand housing.
“I feel that the people who live on the Belle [have] sacrificed their life for so much development throughout Barbados… I cannot understand how you can talk about the change of use of lands – with all my sympathy for the Geriatric Hospital and the patients there – and don’t think about people, the sweat and the blood and tears of the children of the families who worked on both of those plantations,” he said.
“I am making a simple call that the same way we can acquire a parcel of the Belle – I am getting to Drax Hall too; in fact, Drax Hall was about 760 acres of land at one time – I am trying to raise my voice and begging my colleagues to raise their voice about this form of injustice when people in St George need some assistance in resolving the housing problem, especially ordinary working-class people who are descendants of the people who worked on the same Drax Hall Plantation and the Belle Plantation as well.”
Prescod said this was an untenable situation and argued that some form of “self-reparations” should be done locally to free up these disputed lands for the betterment of residents.
“When people argue about what is happening on the Belle, and Licorish Village into Waterford and everything, a large percentage of those people are children of people who were in the Belle…. Nobody wants to talk about [how they] exploited, abused, and murdered our people, dehumanised them, and now the children of the people who worked on those lands got to look to see if they can get a house spot somewhere in St Joseph or in St Lucy, but they can’t get a house spot anywhere near the Belle,” the MP argued.
Prescod also questioned Housing Minister Dwight Sutherland on the 10 000 homes promised to citizens, noting that in the past, houses seemingly built for low-income earners were used for other purposes.
“I want to hear clearly if the Minister of Housing knows exactly who these 10,000 houses are for. I remember the Grotto – we were told that the Grotto was for low-income people. After the place was completed they had it shut for nearly two years and when it was opened up to tenants, the discussion was about if these houses are going to be rent-to-own, are these houses going to be for sale, what is going to be the value of the units…. I need to hear these things,” he said.
He added that the current plan for housing development on the island needed to be relooked, given the large number of Barbadians seeking housing solutions.
“I heard about 12 or 16 houses in an area where I have about 19 000 people living and half of them don’t have any housing or any land, and some people want stupid me to believe that you are being kind to me by giving me 12 units for people,” Prescod said. (SB)
