Prescod puts up a fight: Talk to me about houses in my constituency Loop Barbados

Black Immigrant Daily News

One member of parliament is up in arms following government’s decision to temporarily relocate persons housed at the Barbados Workers Union (BWU) Labor College who were displaced by Hurricane Elsa last year, to new housing units being constructed in Haggatt Hall, St Michael.

“I have a area that it’s demand is unbelievable for housing.”

The 12 housing units are being constructed through the Barbados Construction Gateway Training Initiative which was launched earlier this year by the Ministry of Education, Technical and Vocational Training (METVT) and comprises students from the Samuel Jackman Prescod Institute of Technology, Barbados Vocational Training Board, Technical and Vocational Education and Training and the Barbados Community College.

Speaking to the media on Wednesday, October 18, during a press conference held on the construction site, the representative for St Michael East Trevor Prescod openly voiced his frustrations surrounding the decision which he revealed he was not consulted about.

“I have had this problem with this Party before you know? I’ve had this problem with this party at St Barnabus when Minister Thompson was responsible for housing and it created some unnecessary bad blood. I will hope that this does not occur again!

“I am going to take this matter a little further because it seems to me that there is no intention of any form of compromise, no intention of any discussion with me on this. It seems to be a hard-headed decision that has already been made that the people are coming from at Mangrove here in a transitory form, and that I have to accept that regardless of what the consequences are, and I am not. You hear what I say? I am not! I am not accepting it!

“I have people coming at my house and at my office every day asking for housing and nobody is discussing anything with me. It cannot work!” he lamented.

I’ve even seen people move into houses on a temporary basis and up to now, the government can’t dare to put them out

Prescod professed that he believed the persons displaced by hurricane Elsa should have been given the opportunity to be housed close to their communities as opposed to his constituency.

“I believe that the housing policy should focus on constructing those units at strategic points across Barbados so that people who have been displaced from specific areas will have an opportunity to live in close proximity to where they came from.”

And he challenged the word “temporarily” being used, suggesting that it would be difficult to evict persons after they move into the steel-framed houses.

“I’ve been made to understand unofficially that people would be leaving what was described to me as the Mangrove Barbados Workers’ Union College in St Philip to be placed here temporarily. I know what temporarily means in terms of government. I saw the establishment of a market in Golden Square, a Prime Minister told us that they would be there for just a short period of time and it took decades before they were removed. I’ve seen it in many other places, I’ve even seen people move into houses on a temporary basis and up to now, the government can’t dare to put them out. They were offered to pay rent and in some cases, some of them don’t even pay rent.”

Prescod maintained that this revelation came from a place of concern as he seeks to represent the people in his constituency.

“I believe that I have a strong justification for putting up this fight some more, on the behalf of my people, and I am not doing this because of any effort to embarrass anybody or want to get on the front page of any newspaper, the ones that are popular and the ones which are now being given birth to, I am saying this because this is how I feel inside.”

The steel-framed housing units are expected to cost between BBD $180,000 and $190,000.

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