Ministry to take new approach to squatting

Blythe

MINISTER OF Water and Housing, Dr. Karl Blythe, says that his Ministry will not assist any person or group of persons who proceeded to squat on other people's lands after February, 2000. Dr. Blythe who was speaking in the Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, said that Operation Pride was not a squatter upgrading programme, but was created by the Government to provide affordable housing solutions.

"Yes, there is an avenue for persons squatting on land which the Ministry of Water and Housing believes is suitable for housing, and they have been allowed to squat unmolested for years to regularise them," the Minister said. However, he said that this was only a small part of the Operation Pride programme.

"Because of the many initiatives of this Government, led by Prime Minister Patterson to provide affordable housing solutions for all Jamaicans in the shortest possible time, the Ministry of Water and Housing has made it absolutely clear that squatting came to an end since February, 2000. The Ministry will not assist any person or group of persons who proceeded to squat after that time, or who plans to do so in the future," Dr. Blythe said.

But, Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) spokesman on Land, Water and Social Development, Andrew Holness, said that the matter of squatter resettlement would be best addressed by setting up a Squatting and Resettlement Authority, to focus on relocating, regularising and improving the settlements.

Speaking in the Sectoral Debate Wednesday, Mr. Holness said that the role of the authority would be to identify and document all squatter settlements.

He said that after identifying the locations, the Government must intervene. Operation Pride would then focus solely on building cost effective housing solutions for the squatter database it has recorded.

He proposed that under the authority, the "turn-around time" for the completion of projects should be no more than one year, the units should be starter homes, and the former squatter, now rightfully a settler, should not be charged for the land but would be asked to pay a reasonable rent for the unit.

He also suggested that 40 per cent of the rent would go towards the settlers' equity in the housing solution, another 40 per cent would be taken as actual rent to be used for the incremental development of the project. The remaining 20 per cent would be placed in interest bearing fund, along with the 40 per cent reserved for deposit, in case the settler is unable to meet his rent obligation.

He said that the settler should have the option of using the interest earned to make contributions to the National Housing Trust (NHT), if they are unemployed or self-employed. After a certain period of time, when the settler's equity has grown to 25 per cent of the initial value of the housing solution, the house would be offered to the settler for sale.

He said that Operation Pride should abandoned all new "greenfield" developments and focus on relocating squatters.

"This would cut the operating cost of Operation Pride and focus its limited resources on tackling the problem of squatting," he said.

He also proposed that the Government establish a "proactive cross-functional unit within Operation Pride," to undertake a comprehensive squatter survey of the island.

"If these humble suggestions are followed within 10 years, we would eliminate squatting from the Jamaican landscape," Mr. Holness claimed.

He said that it was not the number of persons who squat which was of concern to the public, but the attendant ills of poor health and sanitation, environmental degradation, crime and social isolation and insulation.

He said that the rise in tourist harassment in recent years and the disregard for property rights were also issues of concern.

"The chaotic state of land settlement that present obtains cannot be allowed to continue, otherwise we will be faced with a serious land 'mis-utilisation' crisis, environmental degradation and numerous social and infrastructure problems," he said.

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