NHC commits to help hundreds of Barbadians secure their ‘piece of the rock’

In the face of a backlog of cases spanning more than 20 years, National Housing Corporation on Saturday once again committed to help hundreds of Barbadians secure their own “piece of the rock”.

Braving the midday sun, locals turned up in their numbers for the NHC’s mortgage fair, held at the Golden Square Freedom Park.

General Manager of NHC Ian Gill addressed the issue of the backlog, which he said they are dedicated to clearing.

“The backlog has been a concern to this administration and we were directed by the Cabinet of Barbados to look at the backlog and to bring it up to date. With that in mind we brought on quite a few young people for at least four or five weeks with the intention [that this assistance can move us forward],” he said.

Carrington said that the backlog is now at 18,000 applicants but he said that at least 20 to 25 per cent are still interested in applying for national housing.

“They applied for five, 10, 15 years, and in some cases two decades ago but the main aim of the Ministry of Housing, Lands and Maintenance is that those persons who were in that backlog that far, they have been given preference in the new housing solutions in this country,” Gill added.

The General Manger said that they were hoping to secure at least 4,000 applicants by the end of the day.

“We were overwhelmed by a crowd at 8:30. This is going extremely well  and I know for sure that the financial institutions, whether the credit unions or the banks, are very happy with the progress that they have made,” he said.

One applicant, Junior Jones, 40, said he was applying for more than a decade ago and though he’s happy with the HOPE project, he feels as though his faith is waning.

“It feels great that a programme like this exists but it’s about what the odds are really at now because as you can see for yourself [a lot of people] are here and there are selected houses available,” he explained.

“It’s more than 15 years I had in applications and I had in two applications in the last 18 years and all I got was a response letter and nothing more,” he said.

Twenty-seven-year-old first time applicant Kyle King pointed out that he has a family to support and paying rent is not an option for him.

“This programme is good because there are a lot of people that would like to get their own house instead of paying rent because paying rent is a killer and paying a mortgage is way better than paying rent,” he explained.

Meanwhile, Lana Prescod said she’s holding out hope to get through with her application.

“I hope to be finally successful in getting my own home and land and to be able to comfortably afford [housing]. I think it’s a great idea and it should be able to help a lot of people,” she told Barbados TODAY. (MR)