‘Hope-ful’

Housing minister Dwight Sutherland has categorically denied that the National Housing Corporation (NHC) is on the verge of collapse, instead revealing that the state-owned organisation is being repurposed better to serve the country’s needs.

While speaking in the House of Assembly on Wednesday during the debate on the Appropriation Bill 2024, Sutherland said that the accusations made by Leader of the Opposition Ralph Thorne on Tuesday that the NHC was being undermined in favour of private interests were misleading at best, as the organisation is still playing a critical role in providing housing solutions to citizens.

He said discussions were currently underway with the unions to adjust the functioning of the entity.

“How can you want to shut down National Housing when we have forecast some $43.4 million from joint venture arrangements, and private-public partnerships to build houses in this country? We have here listed joint ventures for the National Housing Corporation for the year 2024/2025, projected revenue of $2.156 million.

“National Housing Corporation is a viable entity, and we have repurposed National Housing to focus on maintenance of estates, and we have started with discussions with the trade union movement; we have recognised both bargaining units – NUPW [National Union of Public Workers] and Barbados Workers’ Union. We’ve had preliminary discussions and NHC will be repurposed, and NHC will become financially viable without the drain and the strain on the Consolidated Fund.”

During his reply to the Budget speech, Thorne also sought to draw attention to a letter dated January 30, addressed to the Chief Executive Officer of HOPE Inc., the privately owned firm created by the government to build homes under the Home Ownership Providing Energy (HOPE) project. Thorne said the correspondence outlined the allocation of vast tracts of land to HOPE Inc. for a housing project which he saw as a betrayal of the public trust.

But, Sutherland lashed out at the notion that anything “nefarious” or “sinister” occurred, stating that the lands allocated to HOPE were all part of projects outlined in Parliament to be part of the ongoing construction of new housing solutions for Barbadians.

He said: “[The letter] speaks to Branchbury West; Bright Hall, St Lucy, 40 acres; Colleton, St John, 27 acres; Cottage, St George; Golden Grove, St Philip; Guinea, St John; Harmony Cottage, St George; Lower Burney, St Michael; Lowlands, St Lucy; Marchfield, St Philip; Market Hill, St George; Nesfield, St Lucy; Padmore Village, St Philip; Shorey Village, St Andrew; [and] Colleton, St Lucy, 478 acres that can translate into 5 579 housing solutions for ordinary Barbadians, and he is referring to this as some sinister and nefarious document. Well, I have made it a document of the House.”

Sutherland further stressed that despite the opposition leader’s assertions, HOPE Inc. remained a state-owned enterprise.

“HOPE is a commercial state-owned enterprise, with the government being the only and sole shareholder of that state-owned enterprise, and it is not a private company. It has a board of directors that was set up by the Cabinet of Barbados. While we don’t intervene in the daily operations, it is similar to the Grantley Adams International Airport, it is similar to Barbados Tourism Investment Inc, [and] it is similar to the QEH.

“We know that it was grossly misleading and erroneous to the public of Barbados when the member for Christ Church South – and soon to be former member – got in this chamber and misled the public. He has to come back to the public and say sorry,” Sutherland said.

He also strongly denied that NHC was freely giving land away to HOPE.

“Land vested in NHC is converted or transferred to HOPE at a cost… $2.50 per square foot. But why are we doing this? We are doing this to keep the costs of homeownership down for the ordinary Barbadian. We recognise as a government, we have to subsidise, so we decided to cap the cost of services and the cost of land. We are not selling at market value,” he sought to explain.

Thorne also raised concerns about the financial management of housing projects, notably the flow of public funding, and criticised the allocation of $60 million from the Housing Credit Fund to HOPE Inc.

“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,” the opposition leader had said.

But Sutherland explained that money borrowed from the fund was all above board, unlike what occurred under the Democratic Labour Party (DLP): “The facts would have it that the Democratic Labour Party took $75 million from the Housing Credit Fund to build the Grotto, and to build Valerie, the money was paid directly to the builder, and to date they have not repaid the Housing Credit Fund.”

He added: “You know how much the Grotto and Valerie were built at? $653 per square foot, and one at $651 a square foot. That is Sandy Lane prices. You know what is $651 a square foot back in 2014? Look at inflation and see how much that is now. Ask me how much we are building at [under HOPE]…. We are building at less than $380 a square foot.”

Sutherland said the DLP also had to answer for what occurred at the General Workers Loan Fund when they were in power.

“The General Workers Loan Fund was a fund that any persons who are building a home – it was administered by National Housing Corporation – can indeed borrow money from that fund to put on a little toilet and bath, they can borrow the money to buy land, they can borrow the money to do home improvement. The Democratic Labour Party that the member for Christ Church South has hitched his wagon against spent $10 million of the General Workers Loan Fund money to the point now that it is bankrupt. That is what happened at NHC.”
(SB)