The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

URBAN Renewal Co-chair Algernon Allen yesterday said the government’s budgetary allocation of $20m towards tackling youth unemployment will have a “significant social impact”, adding that the funds will be “easily” integrated into a “wide range” of areas in the Urban Renewal programme.

Speaking with The Tribune yesterday, Mr Allen said the decision speaks to the “confidence” the government has “in the conduct of (Urban Renewal) to date.” He added that the money will be disbursed under “the established protocol” of government spending.

During his 2015/2016 budget communication on Wednesday, Prime Minister Perry Christie said his administration has budgeted $20m during the next fiscal year for “special employment projects” in conjunction with Urban Renewal. He also said the government will launch an apprenticeship programme with the private sector, with a wage subsidy as an encouragement, to give young people employment.

The $20m, he said, will be allocated under the Ministry of Finance. However, Mr Christie did not specify what role Urban Renewal will play in the use of the $20m or how such funds will be used.

Yesterday, while admitting that he has no knowledge yet as to how the programme will be structured, Mr Allen said there are “a wide range of things” that can be done.

“You can integrate (unemployed youth) for instance into the neighbourhood businesses, and convince or persuade, whether it’s shop owners or other businesses, to employ them, considering there will be a subsidy to be used towards that objective,” he said. “The funding can do a great deal to comfort, transform the lives of young people who are marginalised and disenfranchised.”

“We will easily integrate them (the unemployed) into the many programmes within Urban Renewal, whether it be the Small Homes Repair programme, for them to apprentice with established contractors or alternatively whether they work in relation to the Urban Renewal headquarters as big brothers to assure the safety of neighbourhoods,” he said.

“We do hope that the infusion of the funding, however it is audited, and it will be audited in accordance with very strict protocol, will be short-term but with long-term benefits,” he said. “Because we’re talking programmes that will last 52 weeks or even longer for that matter, or six months, however the case may be. So we’re hoping that at the end of the day, the transfer of knowledge, skills, and the ability to cause transformation will be a lasting one.”

In recent weeks, Urban Renewal’s expenditure and management have come under heavy fire. A report prepared by Auditor General Terrance Bastian found that in the Small Homes Repair programme, 11 contractors had been paid more than $170,000 for work they had either not finished or it was not satisfactory. It was also revealed that there was no tender process for the contracts and that the contractors did not need insurance.

Yesterday Mr Allen said it is “appropriate” that the money will be disbursed through the Ministry of Finance and not directly from Urban Renewal.

“The Ministry of Finance has accounting and the other expertise to ensure the efficiency of the programme, to ensure the accountability in terms of the established criteria for the disbursement of government funding. And I do believe that it will not only facilitate what is an extremely ambitious programme and an extremely transformative programme, but it will also satisfy all the established protocol in relation to the disbursement of, the accounting of, and the integrity of government funding.”

According to the latest statistics, overall unemployment in the country stands at 15.7 per cent while youth employment is nearly double that number at 31 per cent.