Residents call for halt
to social homes project
HOPE ESTATE--Some 42 Hope Estate property owners and residents are calling on government to halt the building of 72 social housing units in their area. The group claims it was not consulted on the type of units government planned to build in the area.
In a letter to the council with a list of signatures, the home and property owners said, “The reason for us disagreeing with this proposed project is that the dwellings in this area [Hope Estate] are all middle income houses and there are plans to even develop more upscale housing in this area.”
The group wants the project, which has already received funding from the funding organisation USONA and is in the final planning stages, to be halted until “an investigation” into the procedures of the project is finalised. The group only wants middle income dwellings in the area.
The property owners/residents further claimed that when government purchased the land in the area the idea was to develop middle income apartments with amenities.
“If the project goes ahead it will mean the devaluation of all our properties. Who will compensate us for that? Our way of life will change for the worse. Life as we know it will never be the same,” the group said in its letter.
It added that all it had learnt about the project was from press releases and other interviews. No project details were on display at the Department of Environmental and Physical Planning VROM, according to the group. “We were told that government projects are not put for public viewing and don’t require a building/planning permit.”
USONA awarded NAf. 7.2 million in February for the construction of 72 social apartments in Hope Estate. The funding is derived from the Dr. A.C. Wathey Cruise and Cargo Facilities shares buyback.
Of the 72 units, 20 have already been earmarked for senior citizens (10), the physically challenged (6) and rehabilitated youngsters (4).
The project will consist of one four-storey building and three three-storey buildings. The area will be landscaped with greenery, streetlights, parking spaces, a playground, sewage lines and other necessities.
The 44-square-metre one-bedroom units will cost US $250 per month in rent, the minimum price for units. These units are slightly smaller than the emergency homes, which are 47 square metres, but have two bedrooms.
The two-bedroom units will be 55 square metres and the three-bedroom units 66 square metres.
Once constructed, the units will be awarded to people who are in the most desperate need of social housing.
Meanwhile, close to 2,000 requests for housing from legal residents are pending at St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation. The foundation has only managed to screen some 853 cases, of which 190 were desperately in need of a safe place to live.
Among the people seeking homes are two disabled people who are registered as homeless. One usually finds temporary shelter with friends or other people and the other lives on the streets. Five people with children are listed as homeless and enduring extreme violence from partners. They seek shelter with friends and other people. Three families are enduring violent, unprovoked acts at home.
Thirty-five people are residing in shacks with no proper sewage facilities. Six single people are living with others, 55 people with children are living with others and three people with children are living in violent situations with an estranged spouse or partner.
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