est. 2007

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Size Matters

There is a recent article in The Economist which highlighted a problem of high demand for housing in London, England. Not unlike Barbados the demand is significantly located at the cheaper end of the price scale.  Britain badly needs more homes. In the past two decades its population has grown by nearly 8m; another 2m…

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There is a recent article in The Economist which highlighted a problem of high demand for housing in London, England. Not unlike Barbados the demand is significantly located at the cheaper end of the price scale. 

Britain badly needs more homes. In the past two decades its population has grown by nearly 8m; another 2m people will be added by 2030. Many will be drawn to cities, the engine-rooms of the economy. Yet the supply of new housing is not keeping up. London alone needs an estimated 83,000 new homes each year, according to Savills, an estate agent, but is building only half that. The biggest shortfall is at the cheaper end of the housing market—anything costing less than £450 ($560) per square foot, or £4,840 per square metre, to buy. This segment accounts for nearly three-fifths of demand but less than a third of forecast supply in London (see chart).

Can high-rise buildings solve London’s housing problems

One of the lofty and laudable goals of the Mottley government is to build 10, 000 houses over five years. A recent update from Minister of Housing Dwight Sutherland suggests about 900 houses have been constructed towards meeting the goal and 2000 is the target for 2023 to 2024. We have to take the word of the minister because no specifics were mentioned to allow for cross check.

The size of Barbados is reported to be 166 mi² or 20 miles long to 15 miles wide. A relevant and sensible housing policy must factor the size of the island. How sustainable can it be to litter the once pristine landscape of Barbados with houses at the whim and fancy of politicians? We can see the result of an irrelevant vehicle policy by successive governments with the logjams experienced daily on our roads. By the way, has any study been done of the impact on national productivity because of overcrowded roads?

Is this another example of the King has no clothes approach to policy making? 

Minister Dwight Sutherland should address existing tenancy laws to encourage reluctant landlords to free up room stock as a partial solution to the housing problem. It is no secret landlords are seeing hell to manage delinquent tenants. Bear in mind many many individuals in the lower strata of society do not have the means to purchase a home through traditional means.

There is a reality Barbados must accept, the island is too small to execute a policy of constructing thousands of standalone houses. If such a policy were implemented it will not take long for the Barbados landscape to resemble what we see daily on our highways and byways.

113 responses to “Size Matters”

  1. John Avatar
    John

    What you should have said Grasshopper was that GP was spot on in his predictions of what would happen after elections, so the Bible has to be the authority we follow.

    Not to worry though, GP also gave the title “Balaam’s Ass” to certain people so you can agree GP was once again spot on.

  2. John Avatar
    John

  3. de pedantic Dribbler Avatar
    de pedantic Dribbler

    @Mr John Fellow, I will readily admit that I once read your posts with interest but after you so ridiculously offered the patently racist BS that my enslaved forefathers were contented with their lot (no real estate pun intended) under their massa owners I had to read your posts with more care to better recognize your artful distillation of history (often called LYING by others)!

    I am now seeing this post and once again true to form … you are artfully distilling history (and too lying about what was alluded to in prior posts)!

    The Supreme Court in whatever year it was DID adjudicate in the Dred Scott case… that’s a FACT.

    Many (rational persons) and their dogs have called it one of the WORST (if not THE worst) judgements ever… that case was later OVERTURNED. Another FACT.

    In short hand recounting the case is often called the 3/5 ruling apart from it’s other better known simple alias as ‘Dred Scott’. Another basic FACT! If you were reading the posts with UNDERSTANDING you would have caught the remark: ‘That dreaded decision’!

    Thus it is distressingly stupid for someone like you (who boasts of your great scholarship) to make the absurd remarks above.

    So for your benefit it was NEVER about the circumstances of how a Black man was deemed 3/5 of a man … it simply was that nine supposedly just and reasonable white men in the mid 1800s acted with the same disdain and disregard for human rights as these nine men and women of this 2000s circa court when they ruled on the constitutional matter as they did.

    Can you at least PRETEND to be honest and transparent when you offer your historical MIS-management … maybe you can use a smiley face or asterix so we know when you are being artfully stupid!

    Steeeupse!!!!

  4. de pedantic Dribbler Avatar
    de pedantic Dribbler

    Let me CAREFULLY note … “OVERTURNED” refers to the legislative change made with a constitutional amendment!

    For transparency sake!😎

  5. de pedantic Dribbler Avatar
    de pedantic Dribbler

    @David, you gave a very precise post when above and it’s truly the opening for an exhaustive blog on the role of media, free speech, influencer subterfuge (lying) and a whole lot more!

    I – along with millions of others surely – were disappointed by the lack of a trial to get fully on the record what you noted as “is evidence, to [Fox] being purveyors of falsehoods”… and more IMPORTANTLY to avoid the re-do and mismanagement of history that WILL take place.

    For example, already the most senior FOX media critic reporter has already made bold to say: “Dominion might have lost and gotten zero, in part because it had to prove Fox acted with actual malice, a very high bar for plaintiffs.” … SMH. Freaking remarkable.

    The man also said – in fairness to him – “It’s been embarrassing,” and “Fox wanted to avoid a parade of high-profile witnesses, and the judge had gutted most of its planned defenses.”

    But

  6. de pedantic Dribbler Avatar
    de pedantic Dribbler

    … But (to close the premature end above) … that reporter also repeated a deliberately false argument that “… Fox was also fighting for the First Amendment, which actually applies to liberal news outlets as well as right-leaning ones. In the end, both sides had incentives to settle…”.

    That’s absolutely NOT supported by the available evidence. TRUTH is a valid and solid defense to any slander or defamation case. Fox was shown to have knowingly and intentionally lied!

    Only Fox NEEDED to settle.

    But, it means … we will have their stupid revisionist stories forevermore … unless they jury test their ‘we would have won’ view!

  7. David Avatar
    David

    Major restructuring underway at NHC
    Article by
    Sheria Brathwaite
    Published on
    April 23, 2023

    The National Housing Corporation (NHC) is undergoing a major restructuring, says Minister of Housing Dwight Sutherland.
    elton rohn 300×300

    While giving remarks at a special church service on Sunday to mark the corporation’s 50th anniversary at St Luke’s Anglican Church in St George, Sutherland said that the time had come for the NHC, like other state-owned enterprises, to restructure due to hard financial times.

    “The NHC is expected to undergo a period of reconstruction and transformation. There comes a time when great institutions have to reimagine and reinvent themselves if they are to remain relevant and emerge stronger and more fit for purpose as time and circumstances change. And so it is with the NHC as well,” he said.

    “When Government assumed office in 2018 NHC had an accumulated debt of nearly $200 million. Under the BERT (Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation) programme this Government brought that debt down to almost zero.

    “The domestic and global financial and economic environment has changed so drastically that most state-owned enterprises (SOE) in Barbados have been forced to restructure. NHC has fallen into this category as well and just as it has transformed the lives of so many of us, now itself falls to be transformed.”

    Sutherland said the NHC will no longer be responsible for mass construction projects and that role will be passed on to HOPE Inc, another SOE.

    “NHC will not be undertaking the multiple mass construction projects that previously have contributed to an unmanageable accumulation of Government debt and transfers. For the time being, this role has fallen to HOPE Inc., which is a 100 per cent Government owned company that is expected to be completely self financing with only initial bridging financing provided by Government. Both HOPE Inc and NHC will assist and complement each other as this Government continues to roll out its 10 000 housing programme.”

    The Minister added that the NHC will be repositioned to engage in joint venture projects with developers, who have financing to install infrastructure and construct houses for low and middle income Barbadians; to focus more on rebuilding its rental stock for persons who simply will be unable to transition to home ownership in the near future; and to develop a 30-year rent to own policy which would see persons, who can’t easily access mortgages from financial institutions or pay high market rents, pay affordable rents until they are able to purchase the rental houses and apartments.

    He also said NHC will be mainly focused on completing the 20-year transfer of terrace units programme to the approximately 2 700 qualified tenants; and to help develop and manage community improvement projects such Work Hall, St Philip and Greenfields in The CIty.

    In his speech, Sutherland added that although the corporation’s housing role had minimise, it still had an important function in Government achieving its “ambitious housing revolution”.

    Sutherland said NHC will be involved in a number of programmes such as “the construction of 10 000 affordable houses across Barbados, 900 of which have already been completed by the NHC and through joint venture partnerships with the private sector; and capping of the price of Government land at $12 a square foot for low income earners”.

    Sutherland said will also be responsible for planning a gains initiative to allow Government to access significant parcels of land. This has already borne fruit with the state gaining access to 40 acres at Lower Burney, St George; 12 acres at Branchbury, St Joseph; 30 acres at Bright Hall, St Lucy; and 30 acres at Searles Christ Church.

    The NHC will also be pivotal as it relates to the utilisation of photovoltaic systems to make mortgages more easily accessible; the creation of a 30 year rent-to-own policy; and the utilisation of the housing credit fund to finance the construction of the housing stock across the island to include steel-framed house as well as hardwood houses, from as low as $99 000, through partnerships with Dura Villa in Guyana. (SZB)

    Source: Barbados Today

  8. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    Minister of Hosing Sutherland from the pulpit at St.Luke’s
    Sutherland said that the time had come for the NHC, like other state-owned enterprises, to restructure due to hard financial times. (I omitted that standard lead in about the economy in ’18 and the ‘success’ of BERT)
    “NHC will not be undertaking
    the multiple mass construction projects that previously have contributed to an unmanageable accumulation of Government debt and transfers. For the time being, this role has fallen to HOPE Inc., which is a 100 per cent Government owned company that is EXPECTED (caps added) to be completely self financing with only initial bridging financing provided by Government. Both HOPE Inc and NHC will assist and complement each other as this Government continues to roll out its 10 000 housing programme.”
    Sutherland said (NHC) will also be responsible for planning a GAINS INITIATIVE (caps added) to allow Government to access significant parcels of land. This has already borne fruit with the state gaining access to 40 acres at Lower Burney, St George; 12 acres at Branchbury, St Joseph; 30 acres at Bright Hall, St Lucy; and 30 acres at Searles Christ Church. [BT Apr 24 ’23]
    Xxxxxxx
    So…hard financial times…the solution?….ADD a GoB OWNED corporation (recall Clearwater Bay) which taxpayers will GIVE $$$ to, BUT, it is expected to be self financing.
    History tells us, that very little any Gov’t ever does is SELF-FINANCING, unless taxpayer $$ financing, is considered SELF.
    See. http://www.Hopebarbados.com

    Note. The website gives NO information on structure, management or directors, nor financials. Apparently it is a “not for profit”.

    And what is a “gains INITIATIVE”? Gaining access? What exactly does it mean?

  9. David Avatar
    David

    @NO

    Good luck trying to find out. You will recall the blogmaster had concerns about then MoF Sinckler using Housing Credit Fund scheme funds to pay MAM2 for work done on the GROTTO. The GROTTO is low cost housing but final cost didn’t qualify it. The games politicians play.

  10. David Avatar
    David

    Barbados Blue Bonds

    https://millerpublishing.net/publications/Bizbar/2023/45/

  11. Hants Avatar
    Hants

  12. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    hopefully

  13. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    Sorry I didn’t see your earlier ‘add on’ (reply) post on the same topic via an alternate media source.

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