The decision of the last Government to turn over more than four-fifths of the rental units in the portfolio of the National Housing Corporation to tenants who had occupied them for more than 20 years has left the corporation starved for funds.
This situation, revealed Minister of Housing, Lands and Maintenance, the Honourable Dr. Williams Duguid, has resulted in a situation where the NHC is unable to repair and refurbish apartments and estates for which it is still responsible.
This dramatic reduction in rent coming into the NHC’s accounts also crippled its ability to build new apartments at the rate at which it did in the past. This disclosure by the minister during the Estimates debate this afternoon in the House of Assembly was supported by NHC Acting General Manager, Clyde Cummins, who described the situation as “very difficult”.