Home improvement project to start in January 2004 PHILIPSBURG--The various community councils and the Christian Council of Churches have been asked to identify homes of elderly persons in their districts that are in urgent need of repairs, to benefit from the home improvement project being undertaken by a work group put together by the Executive Council. Information on homes that are in a deplorable state will also be sought from the Social Welfare Department. The project will be executed with a NAf. 1 million grant from Reda Sosial. A maximum amount of NAf. 25,000 will be spent to improve the physical appearance of each home. Exceptions will be made for homes that require more funds for repairs. Housing Commissioner Roy Marlin said at least one home would have to be torn down and rebuilt because of its condition. Marlin said only homes belonging to the elderly would be improved under the project. Sixty homes in need of repairs have been identified and the more urgent cases will be shortlisted for the project. Contractors will be asked to recruit the services of young unemployed persons in the various districts to assist in the execution of the project. Eight staff members of Sector ROB will put together a technical description of the homes for contractors. Only homes belonging to elderly persons who are of Dutch nationality or have permanent residence on the island will be eligible for the project. The persons also have to be owners of the homes and land or have long-term leases for the land. Marlin speculated that the project would get off the ground by the end of January 2004. "I personally know of homes of some elderly persons that are really in need of repairs and I want to thank Reda Sosial for this gesture," Marlin said. The project will be supervised by a work group comprising Joseph Dollison, who heads the group, St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation (SMHDF) Director Michael Fowler, Rachelda Hakkens of the Department of Social Affairs, Rien van Rosmalen of VROM, Kurt Ruan of the Department of New Works and Errol Newman of SMHDF. Give us your opinion on this story Post a message on our message board! Click Here! Copyright ©1998-2001 The Daily Herald - Design by Dimitri809