Squatters move into family's HDC home

Townhouses at Riverside South Corinth, San Fernando, were broken into and locks changed on December 30. - Innis Francis

A family who paid a down payment on a Housing Development Corporation (HDC) home more than four years ago was left stunned on December 29 after discovering strangers putting up decorations and preparing to move into the unit, just weeks before they were finally due to receive the keys.

The couple, who have children and asked not to be identified, 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.

Police were at the unit by the time the couple arrived.

The couple discovered curtains had been installed and holes drilled into the walls.

“When I came here last night and I saw the door open, curtains and stuff, my heart just sank,” the woman said in an interview with Newsday.

“We’ve been passing the house, just looking from outside, talking about which room is for who. To see people inside before we ever lived here was heartbreaking.”

She said her husband received a call from a neighbour who noticed activity at the unit and told him people appeared to be moving in.

“We didn’t want any confrontation,” she said. “So while we were on our way, we called the police.”

Officers responded and found three women occupying units in the town house block, including theirs and two adjoining units.

According to the couple, police instructed the occupants to remove their belongings and locked the doors.

The occupants were taken to the San Fernando Police Station. However, Newsday was unable to verify whether charges were laid.

The woman said police told them the occupants could potentially be charged with trespassing or breaking and entering, but that no confirmation was provided.

“As far as we know right now, the police didn’t call us to say anything,” she said. “They said they were going to charge them, but we are not sure as yet.”

The incident occurred days after HDC chairman Feeroz Khan signalled an intention to regularise squatters who have occupied vacant state-owned housing units. In an interview with another newspaper he claimed the process to remove them would be lengthy. Housing Minister David Lee on December 29 denied any knowledge of HDC’s plan.

The woman said she believes the messaging directly emboldened people to attempt to take over homes that were already allocated.

“I 100 per cent believe that,” she said. “When the police asked them why they came in, they said they heard on the news that squatters were going to get houses, so they decided to try.”

She stressed that the unit was not abandoned or unallocated.

The family paid a down payment in November 2020 for an HDC home. Over the next five years, they said they were repeatedly required to resubmit financial documents, valuations and affidavits, at considerable expense, as the process stalled.

“We paid from 2020 for a house that didn’t even exist at the time,” she said. “Then in late 2023, this unit finally started to build. We watched it come up from foundation.”

During the wait, the cost of the unit increased from $600,000 to $750,000, she said, and valuations had to be redone more than once as previous ones expired.

In August 2024, she said the family travelled to South Quay, Port of Spain, to sign HDC documents after being told the house was nearly completed. The trip ended with their car being flooded in under half an hour of heavy rain.

“We lost our car that day,” she said. “All our finances have been tied up in this house.”

After the attempted occupation, the woman went to the HDC office on December 30 with her police receipt and documentation.

“I went there at 8.15 am and told them I needed to speak to someone,” she said.

She praised one staff member for responding professionally and helping expedite their matter. Initially, she said she was told she would have to wait another six weeks for the mortgage process to be completed, despite the break-in.

“I asked them, if somebody could move in in one night, what could happen to my apartment in six weeks?” she said. “I didn’t want to leave empty-handed.”

After further discussions with senior officials, the HDC offered the family the keys under a rent-to-own arrangement while outstanding documentation is finalised.

She said the unit was handed over “as is” and came with existing utility bills, including a water bill of about $500 and an electricity bill of about $95.

Despite that, the family decided to begin moving in immediately.

“By tomorrow I will be living here,” she said. “I can’t risk not being here and having somebody else try the same thing again.”

Her husband, she said, was furious.

“He’s a very laid-back person, but the rage he felt … it was real,” she said. “I felt sadness. He felt anger. We’ve been paying and waiting and doing everything right.”

The family says they are speaking out to raise awareness, not only for themselves but for others in similar situations.

“There are people who have paid, who are allocated homes, and they’re still vulnerable,” she said. “These units are not empty. They belong to families.”

She added that while she understands the need to address squatting, clear communication from the government and HDC is critical.

“You can’t say one thing publicly without protecting people who already paid,” she said. “Because this is what happens.”