BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS – St. Kitts and Nevis’ Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas said his Labour Administration’s housing programme ensures long-term intergenerational advancement for its citizens.
Responding to the ongoing political crisis in Egypt, Prime Minister Douglas said it is important to understand how various developments in the world might affect St. Kitts and Nevis and remain focused on implementation of its national agenda.
“We we must help if and when we can, but we must also remain fully focused on implementing our own plans of action to ensure our own long-term, intergenerational advancement. We know, for example, that all over the world, the lack of collateral keeps hard-working, decent people locked in poverty – one generation after the next. But we also know that all over the world, acquiring title to property represents one of the most important milestones along the path to intergenerational financial security,” Dr. Douglas said during his weekly radio call-in programme.
“It means far more than living in a place that belongs to you. And it means far more than simply no longer having to pay rent to someone. It has far-reaching, multifaceted intergenerational benefits. And it has important here-and-now responsibilities for the homeowner. And the meeting of these responsibilities contribute to the building of healthy communities and societies,” Prime Minister Douglas told listeners to the programme syndicated simultaneously on several radio stations.
Pointing to the creation of well over 3,500 new homeowners under various housing programmes over the past 16 years on an island of 35,000, Dr. Douglas said this represents a social and economic revolution of magnificent proportions and ramifications.
“Thirty-five thousand homes affect some 14,000 persons – roughly. And so this is major. These 14,000 people, therefore, must continue to benefit and grow, in their outlook and potential, from the opportunities that home ownership makes possible, and from the developmental responsibilities that home-ownership entails. And in order to ensure that this happens, the National Housing Corporation will be expanding the information, insights, techniques, and approaches available to current and prospective home-owners even further in the months ahead,” said Dr. Douglas.
He said his Government’s housing programme is about more than concrete and wood. “It is about transforming the way we see ourselves, and the way we are seen. It is about entering the world of assets, and collateral, and equity – and possibilities: It is about entering worlds and concepts that were, until 1995, by and large closed to the vast, vast majority of our people. My Government’s housing program, as I’ve said, constitutes a social and economic revolution of magnificent proportions and ramifications. We did not begin this yesterday, and we will not end it tomorrow. We have been steady in our efforts, and historic in our impact. And this, we shall continue to do,” said Prime Minister Douglas.
