Beneficiaries of free resilient homes are to pay maintenance fees, said Minister for Housing, Reginald Austrie. He said though the houses were given to beneficiaries for free, its maintenance is not free since occupants have to make payments into a special fund for that purpose.
According to the housing minister, free housing beneficiaries must keep their environments clean by disposing garbage effectively, getting property insurance, as well as keeping their houses free of damage risks. Austrie said it will not make economic sense for the DLP government to construct and give out houses free of charge to poor residents, and still pay for maintenance and repairs from government coffers.
He said the government is currently considering a rationale for beneficiaries of new government housing to pay for maintenance, insurance, and garbage disposal among other things. These fees will go into a special maintenance fund opened specially for property maintenance. The minister said that as soon as the government perfects the scale of payment, residents will begin to make payment into the designated account.
The Skerrit-led administration gave out resilient homes to poor families who lost their former homes to natural disasters such as Tropical Storm Erika and Hurricane Maria. However, it is yet unclear how these poor families will fare or react when the new property maintenance fee is imposed.
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