Minister for Housing and Local Government Richard Fredrick, says despite the rent forgiveness policy administered by the Saint Lucia Labor Party many tenants have still not paid their rent dues.
The minister says this restricts the government’s ability to provide good quality housing for all its tenants.
“Some people still manifest the view that it belongs to government so there’s no need for me to pay, and so the payables are mounting as we speak not withstanding the payables are mounting persons still expect us as a government to do whatever is necessary to ensure that the places that they rent are up to speed in terms of occupation. How can you do that when persons are not paying rent?” the minister told reporters.
He says a meeting will be held for all tenants who occupy the buildings that have been marked for demolition on March 22nd, 2023 to finalize the relocation process.
“We will ensure no one is disturbed from their comfort zone without giving them a proper alternative, that is already in play we have a follow-up meeting this afternoon actually and I’m hoping by this evening we should be in a position to wrap up everything and persons will be afforded alternative accommodation.”
Fredrick says as soon as the buildings have been vacated the demolition will begin immediately.
“As soon as the build is vacated we are going to demolish it… we have to ensure that we cannot stop these natural calamities but what we can do is mitigate against the magnitude of the loss that we may suffer.” he said.
Photo: thehabarinetwork.com
