Housing and Socio-economic change

Over the last five years, there has been massive transformation in the housing and construction sectors in Guyana, with thousands of Guyanese benefiting directly from approximately 30,538 house lots distributed.

The transformation of these sectors has also seen some 6991 squatter settlements regularised throughout the country, albeit with varying levels of resistance from those who were ‘settled’ in squatting areas, primarily along Guyana’s coastal belt.

Housing and Water Minister Irfaan Ali himself spearheaded more than 59 one-stop shops, which gave thousands of Guyanese access to several distinct and core services at one venue or another. New housing schemes have been developed and existing schemes rehabilitated and enhanced.

Additionally, thousands of Guyanese have been relieved of the burden of paying exorbitant rent for housing in Guyana, as the Government continues to invest in providing easier access to low-income and middle-income homes. This means that the Housing and Water Ministry has been making a significant contribution toward improving socio-economic conditions in Guyana.

The Ministry has utilised grassroots tactics in rolling out some of the most critical aspects of their work programme with little or no resistance from the populace, even when dealing with illegal land occupation and squatting. In 2009, 4377 lots were distributed while in 2010 6382 were allocated. 2011 saw 8895 being given out while in 2012, 5869 Guyanese benefited. In 2013, 5015 were distributed, despite a total of 6000 being available that year.

Figures for squatter settlement regularisation show that in 2009, 906 settlements were regularised, while in 2010, 1675 received the Ministry’s attention. For 2011, 2073 were regularised, while in 2012, 1737 were made legal. In 2013, some 600 settlements received the Ministry’s attention. Last year, the construction sector accounted for 9.87 per cent of Guyana’s Gross Domestic Product.

The country’s overall growth of 5.5 per cent was led by the construction and housing sector, which recorded 22.6 per cent growth between 2012 and 2013. This was a result of the expansion in private sector construction buoyed by the national housing drive and by commercial construction, including public sector construction projects.

These are remarkable achievements for any Ministry in Government. It is the people who are benefiting directly and there is a significant reduction in the poverty levels, while there is an unprecedented increase in the standard of living of the beneficiaries. The national housing programme therefore is an outstanding example of public policy and private sector support, brought together for the development of the country.

Additionally, banks are now able to offer lower interest rates to borrowers for low-income housing development, as a result of which, millions of dollars are lent to thousands of Guyanese, who in turn use these resources to build their homes.

The low-income window alone has seen billions of dollars injected into the Guyanese economy. In the first quarter of 2013 alone, 366 persons accessed this facility and a total of Gy$690 million was disbursed under this facility alone. Cumulatively at the end of March, there were 3408 borrowers from the financial system and the total amount disbursed by the banking system was Gy$9.3 billion.

The private sector must be lauded for its willingness to lend credit which has grown over the years.

In total, credit from the commercial bank to the private sector increased from Gy$161.6 billion at the end of December to Gy$163.5 billion at the end of March – a growth of 1.2 per cent in first quarter of this year, building on sustained growth year after year for the last several years.

Despite these gains, the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA) must continue to pursue a massive work programme in 2014 that would see more Guyanese benefiting from an improved land divestment policy, while at the same time being able to access affordable housing through strengthened partnerships.