Dominica hands over 22 new resilient homes to families rebuilding after Hurricane Maria 

Dominica: The Government of Dominica, on Monday, handed over 22 new hurricane resilient homes in Bellevue Chopin to families who faced the wrath of climate change during Hurricane Maria in 2017. These houses are being built under the housing recovery project, an initiative that has touched lives across Dominica and continues to do so.

During the ceremony, Minister Irving McIntyre and Minister Chekira Lockhart Hypolite who represented Prime Minister Dr Roosevelt Skerrit and Housing Minister Melissa Skerrit respectively addressed the attendees and handed over the keys to the beneficiaries.

One of the beneficiaries, Attessa Sulliversali while sharing her experience said that her house got damaged during Hurricane Maria and added, “I would like to say thank you to the contractors, the engineers and all who that play a part in making me get that house and the recovery program, the members and staff. I want to say I know I was a bit difficult, but I want to say thank you to you all and I'm very grateful and I promise I will take good care of the house as I was doing in the community center.”

Another beneficiary Miss Ansalam started by saying thanks to God and noted, “Because according to my Prime Minister, the good book says in everything in everything give thanks.”

She said that she was devastated when her house was destroyed during Hurricane maria and added, “It was very hard for me and we all know it is very expensive to build a house and I want to give thanks to my Prime Minister, the First Lady,” and added that this is the only Prime Minister who is putting roof on his people’s head.

Moving forward, the attendees were addressed by Minister Chekira Lockhart Hypolite who said that Dominica is just 13 days away from the official end of the 2025 hurricane season which she described as ‘dramatic’ across the region. She emphasised that despite making landfall in neighbouring island Jamaica, it was relatively safe for everyone in Dominica.

She added that the government is very mindful of the destruction caused by Melissa which devastated the sister island of Jamaica and thanked God for sparing Dominica once again from the full force of nature.

Talking about the housing recovery project, Minister Lockhart Hypolite said that it is the constant threat of hurricane which drives the urgent need for resilient homes.

“This Labor Party government has never and will never ignore that need. Our commitment to improving the living conditions of every Dominican is rooted in the vision of our prime minister ‘Dominica becoming the first climate resilient nation in the world,’ and every month we show progress and the evidence grows.”

According to the Minister the 5,000 modern resilient homes that the government is committed to are steadily becoming a reality with 3,000 already in sight. “This is not a political talk, this is not a slogan, this commitment was born out of necessity,” she added.

Lockhart Hypolite emphasised that after Hurricane Maria, over 90 percent of the housing stock suffered some level of damage, and the government had no choice but to act decisively and quickly which meant reducing the number of poorly built structures and increasing the number of homes built to high resilience standards.

The housing recovery project implemented from February 2019 to June 2025 delivered 382 new resilient homes across communities in Dominica. She said that this was made possible through the tireless work of many and through the loan and grant resources negotiated by Prime Minister Skerrit with the partners at World Bank.

This project, the first homeowner driven initiative of its kind in the Caribbean, empowered families to take charge of building their own home. Beneficiaries selected their contractors, approved their payments and granted access for construction, added Minister Chekira Lockhart Hypolite.

She further stressed on the fact that one of the interesting components of this project is that beneficiaries receive grants of up to 141,000 for two-bedroom homes and 95,000 for one-bedroom homes, paid directly to their accounts under the National Bank of Dominica. Moreover, the payments to contractors were released only after verification by the project engineer and in total over $69 million was distributed across 386 beneficiaries.

The Minister continued to say that one of the major challenges solved under this project was land ownership and added that earlier many beneficiaries did not meet the requirements for clear title but through this program, the Ministry regularised land titles for 170 families free of cost.

“The government covered the surveying and registration fees so they could receive their titles and not miss out on the opportunity of a brand-new home,” she added. The Minister said that the government will continue to serve its people and will always put the comfort, dignity and safety of the citizens first.