BLP unveils new initiative to improve City housing

Bridgetown residents have been promised improved living conditions through a new infilling programme, part of plans to upgrade homes and apartment blocks across the city.

The initiative aims to relocate residents from unsuitable housing and make better use of vacant plots in the urban corridor to increase access to safe and habitable accommodation.

The plans were unveiled on Saturday night during the Barbados Labour Party’s manifesto launch at Golden Square Freedom Park.

BLP candidate for the City, Michael Lashley, said residents must be at the centre of urban development, particularly in Bridgetown.

“I recognise the quality of the housing stock, the fact that people are living in dilapidated conditions. You find out people need house repairs and sometimes they walk away. When I look at the history, we have come through the housing authority, the National Housing Corporation, and the Urban Development [Commission], and I know full well that this government will make sure those agencies are fit for purpose to improve the lot and the quality of the housing stock in the city,” Lashley said.

He identified four key housing categories that would guide policy: squatters, renters, persons without title deeds, and those facing eviction.

“We have to tailor our housing policy to treat to those categories. We have too many people living at the whims and fancies of landlords. There are people living in rooms. That is not the Barbados we want. There are people living in conditions where eviction notices can be served at any time, and it then falls to the burden of the state,” he said.

Lashley, an attorney-at-law, said the infilling programme would move residents out of squalid conditions and into better housing.

“Only recently we went out to Wellington Street and saw a plot of land. That land can be utilised for an infilling programme so that we can move people out of squalor and into better living conditions,” he said.

The BLP manifesto also includes plans to ease congestion through new housing developments.

“The government has committed itself to building 84 housing units at Mason Hall Street to house the people of the city. I might be presumptuous to say all the units should go to city residents, but I hope the majority will,” Lashley stated.

He stressed the importance of transferring titles in the urban corridor, announcing the government’s commitment to ensuring land ownership reaches city residents.

“This government will commit itself to ensuring that the transfer of titles in the urban quarter gets into the hands of the people of the city who need them. There is a vesting bill laid in Parliament that will ensure persons living in housing units can more easily obtain title,” he said.

Referring to amendments to the Town and Country Planning Act in 2019, Lashley explained that developers are now required to contribute to an Urban Transformation Fund aimed at improving living conditions and quality of life in the city and urban corridor. Owners of major developments have already committed millions to the fund.

“I have been informed that the Exim Bank has assured the government it will put $7 million into a fund to ensure the social and physical infrastructure in the city benefits the people,” Lashley said.

He added that developers of the Hyatt project have pledged $2 million towards the initiative.

“The Hyatt wants to get off the ground, and they have pledged $2 million to help transform lives and uplift people,” he said.

Lashley also outlined programmes aimed at employing and empowering young men and women.

“I am committed to improved lighting, sanitation, garbage collection and drainage. I recognise that young men once cleaned the canal, and if we are speaking about empowerment, let us create programmes so these young men and women have something meaningful to do,” he said.

Rejecting the label often applied to the City as a “ghetto”, Lashley said government-backed community projects would uplift residents.

“The government has committed itself to building community projects so young men and women can showcase their skills, attend lessons and engage in positive programmes. That ‘ghetto’ label must come out of our vocabulary,” he said.