Minister in the Ministry of Housing Phillip Alexander highlighted the harsh realities facing residents in East Port of Spain during a tour of the area on Wednesday.
During the walkabout of Housing Development Corporation apartments on Nelson and George Streets with community activist Lennox Smith, Minister Alexander said families have endured unacceptable living conditions for years.
As he spoke to residents in the community, he also challenged Opposition representatives which include MPs from the People’s National Movement and former Housing Ministers to see the situation first-hand.
“Come and walk here. Come and walk in this community and explain to the people who are living in these houses. I just watch a property burn down. How long? Six years? Ten years? There’s a lady whose apartment burned, she’s living in a lane, and allyuh want to go and do video and talk about this government? We on the ground in your constituencies.”
One apartment building on the compound was partially destroyed by fire and remains a major safety concern.
Minister Alexander says broader work is also underway behind the scenes to regularise home ownership and accelerate long-promised repairs.
“I am going to make a report when I get back to office, and I’m going to try and get the engineers here to tell me if this building could be salvaged or if it has to be demolished and rebuilt. A lot of the things are happening behind the scenes with the government and these HDC houses. We want to make sure everybody ends up with proper title to their homes and that we maintain and fix everything so that when we hand over, everybody is in good condition. So Mr. Smith is going to be mobilising the community to give information. If you were paying attention, Sunday we went down to Point Fortin to do the same thing in Lake View. We’re taking care of everybody. So the plan is here now to get the maintenance team on this site, and I promise that, if not today, tomorrow they will come. They will identify the problem, and we will address it.”