Lee warns against squatting in HDC properties

Housing Minister David Lee. - File photo by Faith Ayoung

HOUSING Minister David Lee says squatting in Housing Development Corporation (HDC) properties will not be tolerated by government.

He made this comment at a news conference at UNC headquarters in Chaguanas on January 4

Lee made reference to a situation last month where a family who paid down for an HDC home in Corinth, discovered strangers in the property and preparing to move in, weeks before they got the keys.

The couple made a police report on December 29 after they were alerted that people were inside their HDC town house at Riverside South, Corinth, near San Fernando.

Lee told reporters he has since learned about similar situations happening in other HDC settlements, including some in his Caroni Central constituency.

He questioned a statement issued last month by former housing minister Camille Robinson-Regis about the UNC allowing squatting to take place in HDC homes.

Lee said there was nothing in the public domain to suggest HDC chairman Feeroz Khan made any statement regarding squatting in HDC homes being tolerated.

He produced what he described as a document found at the HDC which pertained to people squatting in its properties.

Lee made it clear that neither he, Persad-Bissessar or the HDC will allow this to happen. "We will not allow that lawlessness. That is a no-no," as he issued a warning to anybody who is either squatting in HDC properties or thinking about doing so.

He said law enforcement and the HDC's security division will work to ensure that the people occupying properties are legally entitled to do so, while admitting that the HDC has faced challenges over the last decade, thanking Khan for efforts being made to address those challenges.

Earlier in the briefing, Khan claimed the company has bills owed to contractors in excess of $600 million. Khan also claimed there was poor construction management at HDC under the former PNM administration

He said on average, over the last ten years, 400 houses were built annually, "but these houses which were worth approximately $500,000 were being constructed at a cost of approximatel $2 million."

Khan claimed this was being done by friends and financiers of the PNM for their own benefit. He said if the funding was properly done, some 12,000 houses could have been built in order to alleviate the housing shortage in TT. Khan also claimed $80.000 per month was being spent by the HDC, under the PNM, "to cut grass in Couva," adding that over the last ten years the HDC has overpaid certain contractors and suppliers "to the tune of over $20 million and no effort to recover (the money)."

"In one case, a contractor was overpaid $10 million." Khan assured the HDC has a plan how to get out of the situation it found itself in.

"We will be increasing our housing production at an affordable rate to ensure that we close the gap between those who want a house and those who get a house."