Ministry of Housing offers new deal to illegal squatters

Several citizens here are now steps closer to being landowners and further away from being referred to as squatters, thanks to the Ministry of Housing and Informal Human Settlements.{{more}}

In a press conference on Monday, 25th August, 2008, Julian Francis, Minister of Housing and Informal Human Settlements, addressed the public on the progress being made in the effort to organize land management.

Persons can now receive crown lands or Government owned lands, which have been approved for sale. Applicants must, however, go through an interview process, which determines whether or not they can pay the government for the land in question. Persons can receive lands by paying installments, receiving a signed Deed on the final payment, or persons may be granted leasehold to government property.

So far, several areas, including Diamond, Owia, Charles Village and a few Grenadine islands, have been investigated and approved for sale by the government. Currently, three hundred and ninety nine (399) areas have been approved: Owia, 28, Charles Village, 10, Bequia, 60, Canouan, 26, Diamond, 242, and Union Island, 33.

The Minister also emphasized that this process of approving lands must be completed effectively and quickly to prevent the unnecessary delay of the procedure.

“I don’t want persons to be pushed from pillar to post. There is a team being put together to make sure you are not pushed around.” This team, made up of four persons from the Land and Surveys Department, is considered ‘adequate’ by Minister Francis to readily handle the needs of persons wishing to purchase crown land.

The government is also working in collaboration with the Housing and Land Development Corporation and the ALBA CARIB fund in an effort to build more low, middle and high-income homes, as they are in high demand.