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Highlights from Financial Year 2016-2017

Highlights from Financial Year 2016-2017

Here are some of the achievements of the Ministry of Housing and its Agencies for financial year 2016-2017:

 

The Home Improvement Grant Programme provides a grant of $15,000 to qualifying applicants to carry out approved repair/improvement works. The grant is awarded to resident citizens of Trinidad and Tobago whose gross household income does not exceed $5000 monthly, and who can show proof of legal land tenure or permission to occupy. This programme allows us to help improve the living conditions of our citizens.

 

For the past six years, the Ministry has administered the Neighbourhood Upgrading Programme which is supported by a loan from the Inter-American Development Bank. This programme provides funding for family subsidies for home improvement and new housing and the Squatter Regularisation Programme.
The Home Construction Subsidy provides a subsidy of up to $50,000 to assist families in the construction of new housing solutions within the programme ceiling of $200,000 in Trinidad or $220,000 in Tobago. The Home Improvement Subsidy provides a matching subsidy of up to $20,000, to assist qualifying families with needed home improvement.

 

There are times when, because of the uncertainties and unpredictability of life, incidents occur that destroy or seriously damage the homes of our most vulnerable citizens. To this end, the Ministry provides short-term assistance in the form of an emergency relief grant up to a maximum of $15,000 to persons who may have found themselves at the mercy of such occurrences. This Emergency Shelter Relief Grant therefore provides relief and financial assistance to help repair or construct some type of temporary shelter for the affected families.

 

Through the Land Settlement Agency, the Government provides infrastructural upgrades to approved designated areas. Some of these works include significant improvements to drainage and roads and implementation of water, electricity and sewerage infrastructure. Here are some of the areas that the LSA conducted development works for Financial Year 2016-2017.

 

Through the Land Settlement Agency, the Government provides infrastructural upgrades to approved designated areas. Some of these works include significant improvements to drainage and roads and implementation of water, electricity and sewerage infrastructure. Here are some of the areas that the LSA conducted development works for Financial Year 2016-2017.

 

During Fiscal 2017, the HDC resumed work on six (6) previously stalled developments.

 

To ensure that the Accelerated Housing Programme is ongoing and there are homes at various stages of completion, the HDC commenced work on these new developments:

 

During the Financial Year 2016-2017, the HDC completed four (4) housing developments.

 

The Government, through the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development and its agencies, remains committed to providing well-designed, affordable housing solutions qualifying persons from the low and lower-middle income groups. In Fiscal 2017, the HDC allocated1,258 homes.

 

 

The HDC and the TTMF collaborated to conduct a series of Mortgage Conversion Caravans to encourage residents who are in Licence to Occupy/Rent to Own agreements, to convert their accounts to mortgages. Over the FY 2016-2017, the HDC has successfully converted eight hundred and forty three Licence To Occupy and Rent To Own accounts.

 

In February 2017, Government took the decision to modify the qualifying income and property value to reflect a more realistic picture of the marketplace and give citizens a greater ability to access affordable housing solutions. We decided to increase the qualifying income of persons accessing the two percent (2%) interest rate from $10,000 to $14,000 to access properties valued between $850,000 and $1 million. With respect to the five percent (5%) mortgage facility, the qualifying income has now moved from $14,001 to $30,000 for properties valued between $1 and $1.5 million dollars.

 

In spite of the country’s economic challenges, UDeCOTT was very busy in fiscal 2016-2017 and was able to prudently manage the construction and refurbishment of many state of the art facilities owned by the State on behalf of our citizens.

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