NHC concerned overcrowding in units causing problems

Residents living in Government-owned units at St Matthias, Christ Church are at their wits’ end over almost daily overflows of sewage which they attribute to a lack of proper maintenance.

However, a senior official from the National Housing Corporation (NHC) is pointing fingers at overcrowding in some of the housing units for the persistent problems.

When Barbados TODAY visited block six of the housing project, residents revealed that a sewage system running right through the approximately half dozen units in the building was releasing a pungent odour.

They explained that since December, the communal sewage system was becoming “choked” when the toilets are flushed and/or the bathroom taps used. As a result, the small wells installed just outside each unit were overflowing.

In fact, they said NHC employees were called in as recently as Saturday to rectify some challenges, which occurred again on Monday.

“It is very terrible and stinks. It gives us a bad smell out of this world and I go and ask my neighbour if someone is using the bathroom over there and she says ‘no, the well is belching’,” revealed one resident.

“It has gotten so bad that we started telling the little children not to use the toilet. ‘Wunna iz boys, go outside in a corner and pee’. That is how bad it is,” the resident added.

The issues were also raised on Starcom Network’s Down-to-Brass-Tacks call-in programme on Monday causing NHC General Manager Ian Cupid Gill to call in and declare that in some cases, the units are housing three to four times the number of people they were intended to accommodate. This overcrowding he blamed for the current sewage problems.

He also acknowledged that based on the old design for the state-owned housing, as many as eight units were placed on one “communal” sewage tank.

“When planning was done back in the 60s, 70s and 80s for these units, there were plans that only three or four people would inhabit these units,” said Gill.

“We have a situation in some areas where 12 and 13 people are living in one unit, so the capacity for some of these sewage tanks is definitely too small.

“We are looking at future planning on how do we solve some of the communal sewage problems that we have because you can have, seven and eight units going towards that sewage tank,” he added.

As part of this future planning, which includes the construction of 10,000 homes in five years, are plans to downsize Government units, said Gill. He also wants laws enacted that limit the number of people allowed to occupy each unit.

“I want to say to people that once we’ve done this, because we have already looked at this issue, we may be in an area where we take five or six people out of those homes and put them into new housing areas,” promised Gill.

“But we are thinking that when we do that, we also need firm legislation, to prevent the numbers from increasing again to 12 and 13 and become yet another problem,” he added.

In St Matthias, another resident who admits to having at least 11 people living under her roof, said residents were never informed that overcrowding was a concern. The resident, who requested anonymity, also declared that she was quite doubtful that this was the reason for the problems.

The tenant, who has been living there for over 40 years, contended that the four adults who occupy the unit are all employed and hardly ever at home to put a strain on the system. As for the other children, she argued, they are often away from the house as well.

“I don’t think the number of people living in the house has anything to do with the choke. I am telling you. Not with the toilet choking every two days. On Saturday, this well was cleared and today, Monday, the men had to come and clear this well again,” she argued.

kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb