Last Saturday, President Irfaan Ali’s Men on Mission (MOM) handed over a newly constructed two-bedroom home in Mainstay, Essequibo Coast to Shervin DeYounge, a 43-year-old father of five.
A release said Shervin De Younge, his wife, and their five children (three daughters and two sons) lost their home to a fire on September 6, 2023. At the time, one of his children was ill with dengue fever and unable to move, but quick action by the wife and mother saved the children from the flames.
DeYounge said after several approaches to MOM Regional Commander Superintendent and Vice Chairman of the Regional Committee Khemraj Shivbaran, he succeeded in getting one of the blue house, which is painted in the president’s favourite colour.
Former minister and current Shadow Minister of Housing and Water Annette Ferguson reached for a comment on the government’s parallel housing programme said her heart goes out to the DeYounge and is happy he and family could once again have a placed they can call home after their tragic lost. At the same time the shadow minister said it is regrettable government is failing to use Guyana’s oil and gas wealth to develop a proper housing policy.
Taking a swipe at the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) handling of housing Ferguson quipped that President Ali’s delivery of another blue house is admittance of his failed housing policy. She said it is important to know “the story of Mr. DeYounge and family is also the story of many Guyanese who desire to own their own home.
The Member of Parliament (MP) recalls recently she addressed the need for a comprehensive housing plan, and remains concern that the government is not serious about the welfare of the ordinary Guyanese. Sharing her view in this publication prior to the recently held Building Expo, Ferguson said everything seems to be done in an ad hoc way.
“If the Government was serious about making every Guyanese a homeowner, the millions or billions they intend to spend for the …Building Expo could have gone into other areas, and perhaps to build additional and quality homes for ordinary Guyanese, who are truly deserving of the assistance at this time,” she expressed.
The shadow minister noted $78 Billion was allocated to housing in the 2024 National Budget, however it is difficult to determine where and how the money is being expended.
In a subsequent op-ed she said for this year the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA), through Minister of Housing and Water Colin Croal, announced that between 2020 to 2023 a total of 34,406 house lots have been distributed but the evidence on the ground suggests this is far from the reality.
Guyana has a housing crisis but the Government is yet to address the problem in a structured way. In no less a place than the National Development Strategy (NDS), prepared in the 1990s ,it was accepted “The housing situation in Guyana is desperate. There is strong evidence of insecure tenure and increasing levels of homelessness. Though Guyana’s population growth rates have now become minimal, current housing needs still cannot be adequately met for the major part of the existing population.”
