Opposition leader urges ‘full restoration’ of National Housing Corporation

Leader of the Opposition Ralph Thorne demanded that the government restore the National Housing Corporation (NHC) as the primary agency for public housing,  urging the government to abandon alternative enterprises such as Home Ownership Providing Energy (HOPE) Inc., which he argued have undermined transparency and failed to serve Barbadians in need.

Speaking in Parliament on Tuesday during debate on a resolution to vest lands at Coverley in the NHC for the construction of 33 homes, Thorne welcomed the move but said it must not be a one-off, warning that the legacy and capability of the NHC were being suffocated by recent policy shifts.

“Any vesting of lands in this country made to any entity for the purpose of public housing must be given to the National Housing Corporation and not to any other corporation, whether it is HOPE or despair,” Thorne said.

He described the NHC as “the salvation in this country in terms of housing”, crediting it with creating transformative communities in places such as Grazettes, Pinelands and Deacons.

“Let not the National Housing Corporation be ever consigned to palliative care,” he declared. “This housing corporation must regain its strength, its breath, and… the mandate to house those who are unable to house themselves.”

The opposition leader has previously raised transparency concerns about the controversial HOPE initiative, warning that it lacked accountability and public oversight.

He reiterated his position, saying “the disaster of HOPE” should not be repeated.

Thorne further framed the issue of housing as one deeply tied to national identity, social wellbeing and crime prevention: “When we fail to house our people, we abandon the youth to the scourges of crime, to the stigma of the address that has lost its prestige.”

He argued that physical decay in older government-built communities has been mirrored by social decline, and called on the government to commit to an urban renewal programme that would rehabilitate these areas.

He said: “We live in a materialist culture in which young people will not feel that they are worthy if they emerge from certain addresses. A government that claims to serve must embrace the virtues of integrity, wisdom and compassion.”

Thorne urged the Ministry of Housing not only to pursue new developments but to “look back” at the ageing estates where government housing once symbolised progress, and to invest in those spaces again.

“Barbados will not be a good place unless it is also a peaceful place,” he said. “The peace this country used to enjoy now experiences its violent origins in places that need rehabilitation.” (SM)