NHDT owners to lose homes
(CNS): The majority of homeowners at the original affordable housing site, Apple Blossom in West Bay, will lose their homes because they are either behind on their mortgages or they will not be able to get new larger loans from the bank. Owners and tenants learned very little about their future at a meeting on the site last week, called by the National Housing and Development Trust Board to tell them that the home plots will be re-parcelled, their houses pulled down and new ones constructed. The board chair said there is no new housing policy in place and he did not know what would happen to owners who were not able to pay arrears or get a new loan. However, he said that government would come up with an alternative place for them to live.
Feelings ran high at the meeting, as those facing the loss of their homes were given little comfort by NHDT chair Tony Powell, who was not able to tell the tenants very much other than government would be selling the new homes, once they were built, for between $97,000 and $120,000, even though they would be worth considerably more. Powell said he was letting tenants know so they could begin to make arrangements over the next four or five months before construction starts and suggested they asked family members to help with the money to pay their arrears.
He said owners who were up to date with their NHDT mortgages would be able to transfer that equity to a new mortgage with the bank. The NHDT was negotiating for lower interest rates and fees as the Trust was no longer going to offer home loans. However, speaking to the owners on the site, most of whom are elderly, sick or indigent, he said they needed to come up with as much as $12,000 for a deposit and then the administrative costs and fees — all way beyond the reach of virtually all the families living on the site at present.
He said the Department of Children and Family Services would be assessing the circumstances of all of the 25 or so families still resident to see what their needs were, but in the absence of both the housing minister and the education minister, Powell, the only government representative in West Bay, was unable to say what the future holds for most of the tenants and where they would be living once the Trust begins pulling down the houses.
“You will not be displaced we will do what we can,” Powell said, as he insisted nobody would be put out on the road. “We won’t start the re-construction until everyone has somewhere to go.”
Nevertheless, Powell could not be specific about what that meant, raising concerns from the residents on the scheme. The people at the meeting were clearly troubled and dissatisfied with the situation they were presented with as there seemed to be little option, given the circumstances of most of the owners who are delinquent on mortgage payments and therefore will lose their homes.
Most expressed their disappointment that the ministers were not there to explain where they would go and what would happen to the money many of them had paid on their mortgage in years past before they fell behind due to a change in their circumstances.
Powell was unable to state why they had not come to the meeting but said he believed that Kurt Tibbetts, the housing minister, was called to another appointment. Meanwhile, CNS has since learned that Tara Rivers, the education and employment minister, was unable to attend as she was at a conference in the Bahamas. The only legislator present was Bernie Bush, a bankbench member ofthe opposition and the fourth elected member for the district.
Homeowners revealed a catalogue of issues impacting them, indicating that it may be almost impossible for any of them to get one of the new houses. Some had faced the death of a spouse or breadwinners, others the loss of jobs, some were faced with serious illness with no insurance cover, and in some cases the owners are simply too old for banks to give them new mortgages.
The homes at the site are now in a bad way and Powell said the government had no choice but to tear the properties down and rebuild as the houses had reached such a poor state of repair that even a strong wind could blow them down. Powell said the DCFS would be undertaking an assessment as he was aware most owners were now behind with mortgages and they needed to see what the problems were.
However, one owner at site clearly stated the main issue: “The problem is we are poor,” he said.
Several people explained their circumstances at the meeting, making it perfectly clear that they were not in any position to get a mortgage from the bank, and with no options on the table, they were resigning themselves to be homeless.
Shawn Ebanks, who is leading the new local activist group Justice for Cayman, urged the NHDT to have some form of phased transition, as had happened in George Town, and pressed the board to understand the circumstances people were in.
As the meeting broke up, one owner who fell behind on payments when she became sick and her husband lost his job at the same time told CNS that they she would rather see the house razed to the ground with her in it than be put out in the street. “I think this is really unfair,” she said.
After the meeting the chair issued a press statement about the Trust's plans, stating that no tenants are being displaced.
"However, the houses they currently occupy have been condemned. In fairness to the tenants, this issue needs to be resolved ASAP, " Powell said. "I wish to stress that the government will ensure that no one is left homeless through this process."
He said the Trust had been mandated to provide an assessment of the site and each family’s position.
"The Needs Assessment Unit of the Department of Children and Family Services will conduct personal assessments in coming weeks, following which a clearer outline of each family’s position will be outlined in the social reports. Following this, the Trust will determine the financial status of each tenant. Once these steps are taken, we will then determine what levels of assistance are required," the chair added.
Over the next few months the residents of Apple Blossom will be required to participate in the assessments by the Needs Assessment Unit of the Department of Children & Family at scheduled appointments and complete the necessary paperwork and forms.
Category: Local News
I live in the area, and these residents are the nicest, most trustworthy group you'd never want to meet.
I always go to work with an easy mind, leaving my lawn mower and bicycle on the porch, with no thoughts or worry of finding them missing when I return at the end or a long day!!!!!!!!!!!
Not to mention the good care they take of my avacado trees.
Yes when I was going around with my petition about these so call affordable homes no one wouldn't come forward and stand up with me about the issue . Itold you all take my foolish advice and move out because government wasn't out to help us caymanians I had one of the homes paying every month fully furnished the place and more when I found out it was just rent I was renting I went to the media about it NHDT couldn't respond when the media went to them for answers took them days before an aanswer was given. All that money I put into the house I could have use for a down payment for a loan towards a house but make a long story short I lost all my money and im still without a place of my own and tryinf to start all over again.
No one wouldn't take mywarning when I told them/public this was just the start of a devastating disaster with these low income affordable homes NDHT , like I told the people at NHDT they will be stuck with those houses because no wants to rent people want to own and if so be the case who wants to rent from government their many places in cayman to choose to rent just depending on your budget. But they quick to jump up about us young caymanians not trying to do anything for our self and look what they did me rob me blind and kick me flat my face buti glad everyone seeing what's happening now but I took my loss and licks along the way
It is an unfortunate situation for all the families involved and no one is turning a blind eye to their current situation but at the same token there has to be some accountability for some individuals that did not make an effort as well to continue an upkeeping on their property or bills and goverment once again having to foot the cost along with ensuring monthly bills are paid and food is on the table.
The fact of the matter is that the homes are not in the shape or form for families to be living in them. For many they have caused an increased in health issues and God forbid a hurricane comes our way, this could caused major casualities. Should we wait for the situation to get worse? Or now that someone has acknowledged a problem and is trying to find a solution to help fix it? Some families may feel that they should not be going to Department of Children Services it is but the goal is to help them sustain themselves in the long term and in order to do so there needs to be a proper assessment of each family personal circumstances.
It shoudnt't be a hugh surprise that these homes are being torned down because a number of homes in the Apple Blossom have already been taken down. Some people just think if they use the media against you or threaten for a "no vote" that this would silence the NDHT and nothing would be done. Please note that there is a BIG DIFFERENCE between a helping hand and a hand out!
Mr. Powell has taken a big stride and should be commending for trying to deal with this matter, considering nothing has been done to try and appease this situation for a number of years.
Govrnment need to look into changing the strata laws in how they apply to duplexes. This is a big rip off going on here. This type of property should be able to register as two seperate units as they do in Canada. People are being ripped off by greedy people who build duplex and sell one side and believe that they have a right to do as they please and act as if they still own the property out right. This practice needs to stop or else international attention will be drawn to the matter and this could have a hugh impact on the housing market. When someone decides not to pay their insurance the property in question should be brought before the court and the if one party does not owe monies they should not be forced to carry insurance, however, the court should allow the other party to insure only their part if the choose to go without insurance, companies need to stop telling you that this cannot happen. I can only see problems happening with strata properties and duplexes in Cayman and if this continues, people will be forced to bring it to the attention of the wider world and stop this abuse and piracy that is happning in Cayman.
Welcome to garrison politics, the economic condition today is not in favour of the middle class and working poor. Most people are working for peanuts and those that work for a few dollars still have little because of inflation. Government really need to think about the people of these islands. Work permit fees are not enough to pay for the poor.
Cant we move some of them back to Kingston while the West Bay slums are torn down?
Better yet it would cost less to buy property and build the new low cost housing in Tivoli Gardens…
You is just a lotta bit racist.
Life just cannot keep giving it on a plate. Sorry but welcome to reality.
Whatever is going to be done for these poor folks should be done real fast as the hurricane season is just around the corner.
which is EXACTLY why they need to get them OUT now! because if a strong hurricane comes and they are taking shelter in those homes… it wont be pretty when the condemed roofs and walls begin to cave ontop of them.
So am i correct in thinking that the Govt built poor quailty cheap housing, installed families with limited abilty to pay mortgages in said homes and when they default on the loan says they are gonna basically tear down the crap home because its substandard and now expect the defaulting owners to refinance and buy another home form the Govt?
Or have I missed something ? Sounds like a great form of loan sharking to me….
Basically, you got it right. However, it is far from loan sharking. Government built homes and handed them over to people who could not afford to own a home. Even if they had the ability to service a mortgage, there was no intent to do so as they were protected by their political benefactors from ever having to pay for anything.
So really it was a blessing in disguise that Dr. Frank found those Italian/Cuba rust buckets that could act as a temporary dwelling place, and when they fall apart then a more reasonable approach could be taken on how to look after people who are unable to look after themselves.
We have an obligation to look after those who can't look after themselves, but we have to do something about the leeches who suck on to any free ride.
Cayman Kind baby…..one of a kind! truly.
This is the result when politicians wont listen to it's people.
Many local builders made representation of how they could build these budget homes with concrete material.
What made it less appeasing to the Government, they were local builders. This wouldnt have happened if the Caymanian builders had the balls to stop this mess. Until this be done, we will always have these atrosities.
Take the new found $100 Mil proposed for the Dart Dump Deal and divide that amongst 1000 families @ $100,000.00 each for a home if NHDT is telling the ppl that they will be selling the homes for $97,000-$120,000.00 they could still decrease the amount to said $100,000.00 and build one thousand homes. The problem here lays with the countries poor and the lack of the ability to qualify to for bank mortgages, you don't need a destination behind your name to figure this out!! Because we all know that of the $100 million dollars allocated to deal with the dump is not all going on the dump project, many pockets are going to be well lined with that money. And if the government could find $100 million for the dump which IS THE PEOPLES MONEY NOT PPM GOVTS, then USE IT FOR THE PEOPLE!! And if Dart wants that property than let him find the cost to build actual affordable homes he is the one who getting all the duty concession for construction anyhow, and suckering our dumb fuck government reps outta of millions of revenue that could help the very less fortunate here.
The poor out number the rich here, when the unemployment, homeless & desperate people start to rebel against this oppression that is constantly mounting on them the rich residents and potentional investors won't remain or come here.
As it is a lot of people not only the residents of the Apple Blossom Estates but island wide are struggling just to KEEP food on the table, many are livingwithout water & electricity right now, late at night you see families at the public beaches getting water or taking a shower because they have no water at home. You can hear generators running at night in some yards that their electricity is off because they can manage to get the bills paid.
I few weeks ago there was a big scandal about a stupid wedding dress and govt collecting revenue on it or whatever, someone needs to expose the real dire straits the locals/natives are going thru in this so call first class country. Take pictures of all the dirty lil secrets being hidden about how the people of these islands really live. Not the high ballers, and dirty no good don't give a shit about the people or country political cartel called the Cayman Islands government.
The people also need to get up off their asses and DEMAND to have a say on how their money is being spent and what it is being spent on, because all that money that is wasted has not benefitted the people in any shape or form from either of these two governments. 20 years of the treasury/people's money being stolen from them and filling pockets up with under the tables deals. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. To the people of APPLE BLOSSOM ESTATE if the NHDT do not find each of you a proper home and I mean something that they them selves would live in to house you all prepare to camp out on ALDEN MCLAUGHLINS & GEORGE POWELLS YARD!!
dont just open your mouths get up of yours asses and stand up for your rights!! And these goes for all of us whom are facing severe hardships of DAILY SURVIVAL IN OUR COUNTRY.
I'm not in 100% agreement with you, but as a young hard-working Caymanian I feel we as a nation have gotten too complacent and expect to be handed things.
The money is not "ours" it is for our country and its overall betterment. If you take that 100 million and give it to 1000 families what about the other 5000+ families that are struggling. We live in a paradise that we barely contribute too most of our income comes from outside of these Islands. We get free garbage collection, free road repairs, free public schooling and subsidised healthcare for those that qualify, yet we are constantly complaining and blaming our politicians. It is not their fault that we sit idly by and allow them to do as they please; we have an incomplete high school in town that will cost more to complete due to repairs it will require, a government building that sill has space while we continue to have government agencies paying leases to external parties.
STOP blaming them and blame yourselves, we are passive people and this has lead to the current state of our economy. We have been in for almost thirty years every election hasbeen a simple changing of the guard with very little being made in the way of progress. SPEAK UP, SPEAK OUT make your voice be heard JOIN TOGETHER and stop tearing each other down, whether you are a born Caymanian with generational ties, a "paper" Caymanian of a first generation Caymanian; we are all CAYMANIANS and we need to stand together if we truly want to see a change.
The poor & middle class are going to become the homeless in the very near future, if the banks and government do not work together to ensure that those two classes in society are able to obtain home ownership we are going to face a very crime ridden society, a person or persons without anything to lose has exactly that, nothing to lose. And those of us who have will become the targets and victims of those who do not have.
Economics 101
Bring in the minimum wage, at least $6 per hour CI, help the poor to move themselves out of that catagory, in a country such as ours there should be NO POOR OR BELOW POVERTY CLASS,
Banks need to really work with the poor and middle class to beable to obtain loans for land,homes,& apts.
For someone to accomplish the feat of building or purchasing their own home is a great one.
If the investors and developers can obtain concessions for building materials so should those who truly can benefit from the reduced price on their homes which is not a commercial property that will eventually pay for itself. But give the owner a feeling of pride and contributing to a community with pride instead of those who are now living in extreme poverty and having a sense of failure and shame.
There are so many who are trying every which way to reach this achievement and no matter what they do they are unsuccessful and they eventually give up.
For some reason, those who are in the positions to accommodate this seem to have an "oh well, better next time" attitude, if we want to reduce crime and increase the economy especially for the small caymanian businesses, because most poor people thrive in the mom n pop type stores as that is all we know and because you have shopped there for so long to just try to keep up with their apts and places of abode, they have learned how to stretch their money. And they are loyal to these establishments.
I call on Johann Moxam, if you really want to leave a legacy as president of the chamber of commerce I would say to you look into these few things that really make a difference in these islands,
1) Meet with the local banks and get to work on numbers that the below $3.00 per hour workers can get a mortgage. (If you say there's no way someone making $3 per hour could qualify then you are starting to see the real problem and then my next suggestion comes into play).
2) Meet with Tara Rivers to get the Miniumum wages started ( after meeting with the banks you should be in a great position to advise what the minimum wages should start at).
3) Look at properties that government owns and develop housing developments like those of Crighton Properties & Frank Hall Homes, & Thompson Development do the same structures and quality and you DO HAVE THE ABILITY TO LOWER THE COST via concessions and Johann as the president of the chamber it is your duty to ensure these concessions are passed on to the customers.
4) Those who are living in substandard housing needs to be look at first and foremost.
5) The elderly are also a major concern in this country, their housing, basic care, & medical care needs to be addressed immediately it is appalling to see those who go without their bare essentials and are completely ignored.
It doesn't take a genius to figure out the solutions to this country's social economic problems, it just take someone with a backbone to stand up and do what we all know can be done to change what's wrong with this country, make break away from the "dividing the social classes" stop continuing to hide behind the mess that the former governments made (20+years of mess) do away with sticking to the plan, and stop kissing asses for personal gain while the people of this country are being forced into deeper poverty.
Local construction companies are in the recent news as they are desperate for work, stop out forcing work from foreign companies which are of no use to local ppl who can't afford them.
Give concessions to the local businesses who are here for our local economy, and ensure to do spot checks on their inventory and pricing to make sure that they ARE MARKING DOWN THEIR PRICES ACCORDINGLY and passing it along to their customers.
It is NOT AS COMPLEXED AS IT IS MADE TO BE. We may not all have college degrees but that doesn't mean we don't know how all of this really works.
the Jordanian not going to let this happen
The two previous UDP Administrations led by McKeeva Bush had US$29million to deal with this problem. The first $14.5million between 2001 – 2005 with "Dr." Frank, and the next $14.5million between 2009 – 2012 with Mike Adam and Ellio Solomon.
At least show us what happened to the latest $14.5million (2009 – 2012) spent by the NHDT Board run by Steve McLaughlin and Edlin Myles. Come on, show us.
What is there to hide? How many built homes do the UDP have to show for the full 29million borrowed by Govt? 60? 80? Let's say 100. That means that each "Low Cost", "Affordable" home built by the UDP Government cost us US$290,000 / CI$240,000 to build.
Any comment Mac? Mike? Ellio? Steve? Edlin?
15;52
Did you take into consideration the cost of property, cost to fill and grade the land. Construction of roads. long awaiting planning and fees. Site utilities, and amenities, electrical and water supply.
Just saying!
Am I missing part of the story? Why are they tearing down the houses and reparcelling the lots?
I've read it 2x and still don't understad.
CNS Note: Extract "The homes at the site are now in a bad way and Powell said the government had no choice but to tear the properties down and rebuild as the houses had reached such a poor state of repair that even a strong wind could blow them down."
In short they don't meet current building code requirements
Thanks for clairfying
What a shame. How does a house go to ruin like that? I didn't realize that it was only temporary housing…..
A previous poster wrote "ignorance is bliss" with regard to the previous Government funding these houses through various means. Well I can tell you this, this present government gonna get thse people into homes and ge their undying vote or the Chairman name will no longer be George. Nothing changed just another in paradise lost .
Your government sponsored another boondoggle and built some quality homes that lasted a whopping 10 years and are now worthless. (but still worth more the the brain trust that put this crap project together)
i am sooo sad that I am an expat and can't somehow get into office and start burning everybody's money for my pleasure. It's just not fair!
Reparcel the lots because the NHDT was selling the land and couldnt give the title to go along with it. Eg they built on one whole lot and turned and sold to people.the same lot…if you look at it they were selling something over and over again. The people were behind on mortgage payments on something they never could have bought.
Ummmm….NHDT I think you got some explaining to do and some.funds to repay as the contract you enter was frustrated from the outset for impossibilty. I hope these people.get legal aid.
And to the board, do it.correct next time…a lot of donkey round the place
This highlights two different needs. (1) Affordable housing, (2) homeless housing. (1) is for people who can pay something towards their homes, or rent, usually younger families, while society pays the balance in the hope that they will achieve a permanent home and so a stable place in society. The other is for people who can't afford to pay anything. But what is society to do with them? They are our brothers. By conflating the two we make two difficult problems harder to understand and resolve. (Or, in many countries, not resolve other than homelessness for both categories.)
I think this is what the NHDT Chairman was trying to get across. The NHDT is for type (1). Other parts of Government will deal with type (2). These folks have to determine which type they are and deal with the appropriate section of the Government.
Nail on the head. Problem is, there is no scheme for category 2. CIG would rather pretend that the problem does not exist and everyone is at worst a category 1 case and then over look non payment – less embarrassing all around, and avoids those awkward questions about how we are going to pay for it, but completely unsustainable in CIGs current finacial circumstances. So I guess these people will end up either homeless, placed into any other abandoned property assets CIG has, or have their rent paid for them by social services out of a different budget until hell feeezes over. Hey – maybe CIG could move them into the vacant space in the GOA – close proximity may encourage CIG to actually find a solution rather than brush it under the carpet.
Sorry, but welcome to the real world.
Real world indeed created for us by Mac's status handouts to create voters. Mac sure not going to pay the tab now, as usual we have to, and his cronies on the board at 600$ a meeting not going to care too much either.
Maybe those who licked their fingers on this deal should be made to pay up since the Owners are the real losers here.
I think the development trust picked up that tab when the owners defaulted on their mortgages, I feel sorry for the person who is up to date with their loan, as far as I understood it everyone else just defaulted and have been living their without paying anything to anyone. Mind you I don't think I would be paying out for such a shoddy house.
The persons who are up to date will be will be able to transfer their equity as I understand it. Those who defaulted and have been living for free have basically used up their equity in "rent". So now Social Services has to assist them with other subsidised housing.
I am selling 2b/2b apartments for about 150k, and every time it is the same problem. Buyers are not able to save for the downpayment and bank fees of 10.000.
But if the same people go to the bank for a car loan, they walk out the same day WITH a brand new car.
The problem are the banks.
100% financing is never a good idea, especially housing, nothing invested = nothing to lose, I would imagine it would be harder for you to sell the properties if the one next door was sold and then reposessed or not looked after.
You could always offer the buyers financing for the fees if you believe in them that much. The one thing that you can't get away from is buying a house costs money, people need to save every penny for a long time to pay for their own place, there's always costs in owning aproperty and if you haven't got a bean now, by owning a property you aren't going to magically get access to a money tree.
Where are these apartments located ?
No the problem is the buyer deciding that a new car is more important than somewhere permanent to call home.
Banks and insurance companies : a bunch of money grabbing rascals, the world over. They are interested in one thing : squeezing as much money out of you as possible. They couldn't give a hoot about you personally. I'm sorry, I wish it was different. Anyone who thinks that banks and insurance companies act "in your best interests" is a naive individual to put it mildly.
Umm – the car does not cost 150K. My ability to repay a 25K car loan over 3 years against the value of the car as collateral over the same period, and my ability to prove I can pay 6 times the money at risk with an apartment which the banks wold find very difficult to sell in the current market if I default, are entirely different. If you think thats so unreasonable, why not guarantee the banks that you would buy the apartment back from them if the buyer defaulted at say 120K and they would probably fall over themselves to lend (if you are credit worthy). Easy to blame the banks, but they are there to make a safe profit for their shareholders, not to help you to sell homes to people who cannot afford to pay for them.
I saw this on tv and was trying to find a Caymanian in the croud of protesting homeowners…
Or used-to-be-homeowners…
They got their status from Big Mac, brought their families here and went straight on social services. But remember, these are unrevokable status grants so he got elected again and we foot the bill
And since you are stuck with them, why don't you accept it and move forward rather than moaning all the time about it?
Because people have such short memories that they need to be reminded that this was Mckeeva that got us into this MESS. He sold us "down the Canal" so please don't ever give him a chance to do it again!
They are not irrevocable. That is pure fiction. Read the law!
No need to create slums in Cayman and if we leave these folks there that's what it will become…a government slum!
That's pretty much what it already is…
Maintenance Law? Family land? Mercedes in driveway? If not, then Government must house them – but ONLY if not.
It is important that the government gets value for money from the valuable asset that is the land in question.
One has to wonder where Mr Powell gets the idea that these homeowners have family who they can go to for money to pay off their mortgages.
Because he knows the truth?
This is what happens when the rules are bent to suit a particular situation. The only thinkg that was real here, is that those folks believed the drivel and the God Father and his possey got a votes out of it. A crying shame, but until people start trying to see beyond their noses it will happen over and over again. Ignorance is not really bliss any more.
It's not Mr. Powell's ideas that are the problem. You have to ask yourself some more pertinent questions, like:
1) Whose idea was it to give (Cayman Development Bank) mortgages to people who did not have the means to repay them?
2) Whose idea was it to refinance the loans (through CDB) when the original loan was not being paid?
3) Whose idea was it to take the $5 million from the Dart/Cayman Alliance agreement and give to these people interest free to delay the time before the inevitable foreclosure?
These people have my sympathy, but the real injustice to them lies not in kicking them out of their homes, but in the systematic way they have been kept in abject poverty knowing that they would be available to cast a vote in return for a measly handout come election time.
You forgot "who is going to have to bail out the CIDB when it becomes apparent that their loan book is irrecoverable'.
Caymanians are suffering ans soon there will be no middle class,
Middle calss is what keeps the country going, the rich are selfish and the poor always feelhelpless and angry.