Govt to target derelict properties tied up in family disputes, revive City

The government plans to unlock derelict properties caught in family disputes through a new housing initiative, Prime Minister Mia Mottley has announced, as the administration seeks to boost housing supply and cut urban blight.

She also detailed plans to revive housing in Bridgetown with condominium developments. 

At a groundbreaking ceremony for a new joint-venture housing development at Vineyard, St Philip, the prime minister explained that many properties across the country have been left abandoned for years because families cannot agree on how to manage them after the passing of the original owners.

To resolve this issue, the Ministry of Housing has been tasked with creating a comprehensive framework to assist families in unlocking these deadlocked assets. 

“The house sits for five years, ten years, 12 years… because it is the family who are not working together, and more often than not it then is viewed as a public problem rather than a family problem,” the prime minister said. The new mechanism will provide families with a “menu of options” by bringing together a dedicated team of lawyers, architects, engineers, financiers and contractors, she explained. 

Under the proposed scheme, the state could enter into agreements to standardise legal and architectural plans, or even lease properties from families for a set period, such as 15 years, to develop them before handing them back.

The government is also open to increasing housing density in these established neighbourhoods, transforming single-dwelling derelict structures into duplexes, quads or hexes, the prime minister added. 

This initiative is part of a broader, aggressive restructuring of national housing policy as the country approaches its 60th anniversary of independence. The prime minister emphasised a shift away from traditional, fully state-funded housing models towards public-private partnerships and joint ventures.

This strategy aims to spur the construction of at least 2 000 houses per year, generating a minimum of $400m in annual economic activity.

“It is the ambition of this government to see and to create the opportunities for every Bajan to be homeowners rather than renters and tenants in their own land,” she said.

To achieve this scale, the administration intends to transition housing construction from an “artisanal activity to an industrial process”. This includes introducing legislation in the coming months to expand the Mortgage Indemnity Act to all commercial banks, in a bid to make mortgages more accessible to average citizens, including informal and self-employed workers who can demonstrate consistent digital income records.

The prime minister also stressed that revitalising existing communities by refilling derelict spaces avoids the heavy infrastructure costs associated with greenfield developments.

She sought to give an assurance that this urban renewal drive, which includes upcoming multi-storey developments in the greater Bridgetown area, would not compromise agriculture —  even as she presided over the groundbreaking ceremony for a project that converts an entire rural plantation into a vast residential district. 

She declared that the island is pivoting towards vertical and climate-smart greenhouse agriculture to ensure food security.

The prime minister outlined plans to bring the capital fully back to life over the next two years. The push forms part of a broader strategy to transition housing from an “artisanal activity to an industrial process”, driving economic growth and securing property ownership for Barbadians.

With the historic 2028 milestone of the 400th anniversary of Bridgetown’s settlement on the horizon, Prime Minister Mottley emphasised that the revitalisation of greater Bridgetown requires a fundamental shift in how urban spaces are utilised:

“A capital city must live, must breathe, but in order for it to live and breathe, it cannot only be a place where people go to work. It has to be a place as well where people live.”

To achieve this, the government is initiating multi-storey residential developments under the Condominium Act within the city lines, with active planning stages under way for central areas including Exmouth and Greenfield.

By building upwards and introducing varied housing options, the administration aims to modernise and renew the City’s core, she said.

(RR)