NOT ONE WORD!

That complaint came from most of the residents of Emmerton, The City, who have been waiting for more than three years to be relocated into their new homes between Strathclyde Crescent and 3rd Avenue, Thorne's Land, St Michael.

Residents were upset about their household effects not fitting into the new homes, the absence of perimeter fencing or space for washing clothing or recreation.

Gwenith Fowler, who has lived in Emmerton for more than 40 years, said: "I pay about $25 200 to get the new place widen . . . but what they have done is not what I paid for so what they built can't hold what I have in here."

However, the biggest gripe is the way they seemed to have fallen between the cracks.

"We don't know what the hold-up is," said Henry Arthur, an Emmerton resident of over 20 years. "Nobody has said nothing to us, not our lawyer, not the Minister [of Housing, Michael Lashley]. Nobody!

"They carried us and showed us the houses. We went inside; we know who gets what but not a key has been handed over
to us," he said.

Angela Chase said she was feeling "vex, frustrated, upset, everything".

"I would love to have my keys tomorrow morning because this sewage still smells. They saw fit to give the National Housing people keys and we can't get keys for our own houses and we have been here for more than 30 years suffering," she said.

Beverley Joseph, who has a business at home, said while she was not happy about the size of her new house, she was more offended by how [Lashley] treated the situation.

"He came down here about three weeks ago during the day when most people were at work. He said he would try to have a meeting in two weeks, that was more than a week ago and we have heard nothing," she added.

Nyron Batson explained that in his 24 years living in Emmerton, he could no longer walk through his back door because of the build-up of garbage in the canal.

"I ready to move even with the one or two problems over there . . . . It makes no sense having the houses over there finished and leaving them empty," he said.

Deborah Blackman said her grievance was unique: "My situation is that they would be relocating me on my own land but they haven't even started to build yet.

"For three years they told us not to do anything to our homes because we would be moving, but right now my roof is in need of repairs . . . . Up to now nobody has gotten back to me about anything and right now I just want to get from here!"

About 50 families are expected to be relocated to concrete houses and terrace units from Emmerton, where they have been complaining about the bad smell from the sewage treatment plant over the years.

Yesterday afternoon when the SUNDAY SUN team visited the housing project, organised by the Owen Arthur administration, the new units looked almost completed, down to the new network of roads.

Efforts to get a comment from the minister or Permanent Secretary Carson Browne were unsuccessful, but a well-placed source in the ministry confirmed that the minister was expected to call that meeting "very shortly" with the residents of Emmerton.