St James housing for all incomes

THE National Housing Corporation (NHC) is embarking on housing solutions in St James that will embrace upper, middle and lower income groups.Yesterday, Minister of Housing and Lands Michael Lashley and Member of Parliament for St James South Donville Inniss toured sites at West View (near the National Cultural Foundation), West Terrace/Durants, and Oxnards/Haynesville, where housing is being offered.“I am pleased at the way the NHC has gone about trying to provide the housing solutions. I look forward to the embarking of those programmes and assisting the people of St James South,” said Lashley, who expects work to start by year-end or early 2011. Inniss paid tribute to the efforts of both the minister and the NHC.“The Ministry of Housing and Lands under Lashley’s stewardship has really been doing an excellent job in providing housing solutions. We haven’t yet been able to satisfy all the demands, but we can all agree that NHC has been moving in the right direction in terms of assisting a wide cross-section of Barbadians,” he said.At West View, the NHC is providing a house and land package for 11 lots ranging from 6 000 to 9 000 square feet, and according to Lashley, there had already been 175 applications in which Barbadians would have the chance to purchase the land and build.Over at West Terrace, there are 72 lots ranging between 4 000 and 6 000 square feet for middle income earners, while sandwiched between Haynesville and Oxnards, there are plans for 17 Government high-rise units.Lashley said this was all part of Government’s policy to include all and sundry in its housing plan.“In relation to the lots, Barbadians need land and so the NHC is still catering to that category because we give them the land, they can go and construct their own houses, similar to the $5 lot programme that we have which will be launched very soon.”