The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

SOME 18 families will receive keys to their new homes by the end of this month – just ahead of the Christmas holidays, Housing and Transport Minister JoBeth Coleby- Davis announced in the House of Assembly yesterday.

Her comments came while delivering her contribution on a resolution to increase the national minimum wage from $210 to $260 a week.

While expressing support for the resolution, Mrs Coleby-Davis said she expects the increase in the country’s minimum wage will positively impact hundreds of mortgage applications.

“The country has already seen that this Davis-led administration is committed to expanding the path to homeownership and this decision will allow many Bahamians to obtain homes,” she said.

“We will not make promises of home ownership. We will not produce sketches for public relations stunts. We intend to actually put families in their own homes and by the end of November 2022, we will be putting at least 18 more families in homes.

“Eighteen more families will be able to place their Christmas wreaths on their own doors to their homes. We are serious about our commitment. It is indeed a new day.”

The Davis administration has launched several housing development projects designed to provide homes for Bahamians seeking affordable options.

In May, the government officially opened the Pinecrest subdivision and handed keys to a number of Bahamians to their new homes in the area.

Last month, Mrs Coleby- Davis announced her ministry’s latest project – a rent-to-own housing initiative called “A Place to Call Home.”

The housing programme officially opened this month and will provide some 50 homes across The Bahamas in its pilot phase.

“A Place to Call Home” is a multi-island, sustainable, financially viable housing solution administered by the Department of Housing for working individuals, employed and self-employed Bahamians,” she said last month.

Successful applicants will be required to sign an occupancy agreement, which would form the legal basis of the agreement with the Department of Housing and also deal with delinquency of accounts and payments, according to the minister.

“Over an agreed fixed period, not longer than 36 months, rent will be paid to the Department of Housing and a portion of the rent will go toward a down payment for the mortgage, property maintenance and insurance costs,” she explained.

“Successful applicants will also be required to attend a home ownership education course through the Department of Housing and agree to financial coaching.”