Leader of the Opposition Ralph Thorne has launched a scathing critique of the government’s handling of housing policy, raising concerns about the direction of public resources and the fate of the National Housing Corporation (NHC).
Noting that the NHC has played a pivotal role in providing housing solutions for Barbadians, he expressed apprehension about recent developments, suggesting that the government’s actions were undermining the NHC in favour of private interests.
He said that after the housing agency had given “good service to housing in this country, not only as a landlord but as a builder, it appears as if this government is dismantling the National Housing Corporation in favour of private interests”.
“There are people in that National Housing Corporation tonight who fear that they’re not going to have a job in the near future,” Thorne told the House of Assembly.
“ . . . . This government is on a trajectory of dismantling or appearing to be dismantling the National Housing Corporation, the successor to the Housing Authority which served honest Barbarians over the last 50, 60 years. . . . A few years ago, this government incorporated something called HOPE [Home Ownership Providing Energy] and HOPE seems to be bringing despair to the employment rights of those in the National Housing Corporation.”
Drawing attention to a letter dated January 30, 2024, addressed to the Chief Executive Officer of a private entity named HOPE Inc., Thorne highlighted what he perceived as the NHC’s capitulation to private interests. The correspondence outlined the allocation of vast tracts of land to HOPE Inc. for a housing project, a move that the opposition leader characterised as a betrayal of public trust.
“….Total acres of lands to be conveyed to HOPE is in the sum of 478.2 acres of this precious Barbadian soil where the blood of the slaves irrigate trees and bear sweet fruit, and along comes a private company masquerading with a public status and a Parliament of this country hands it to that private company in masquerade. . . . 478.2 acres, and the people in this country should be pleased, and the people at National Housing Corporation should be pleased that they are to be sent home eventually because that is what the government will do,” the opposition leader charged.
Thorne expressed further concern about the financial management of housing projects, particularly the disbursement of public funds, criticising the allocation of $60 million from the Housing Credit Fund to HOPE Inc.
“The housing credit fund exhausted its coffers in the amount of $60 million belonging to the taxpayers of this country, which has been paid to HOPE. And what has HOPE delivered? … That land at Lancaster was valued at 18 dollars a square foot. HOPE got the lands at $2.50 per square foot. Land reduced in value . . . . Lancaster is finding its land values reduced for the sake of a sale.
“The taxpayers of this country need to know this. And $60 million later from the housing credit fund, we have 131 solutions…. 131 houses and $60 million of the taxpayers’ money has been paid out,” Thorne said as he chastised the government.
Thorne also raised concern about the government’s spending habits, with large allocations made to the Prime Minister’s Office for the upcoming financial year, amid job losses. He questioned why the Office of the Prime Minister was receiving the third highest allocation in the Budget, $188 million.
“While the Prime Minister’s Office is allocated that sum of $188 million in one financial year, we are sending home people in this country. We are telling them they are not worthy to grace the fields of our employment,” Thorne told Parliament.
He also drew attention to travel for the recent climate change conference in Dubai, alleging that 67 people went on the trip at the expense of taxpayers, and questioning what the government had to show for it.
Thorne also took issue with the number of consultants on the government’s payroll, suggesting the current administration was “a government of consultancy”.
(RG)
