83-year-old achieves lifelong dream as Guyana govt hands over homes to 4 families

In a significant development, the Government of Guyana handed over the keys of $5 million Core houses to four low-income household families. Among these, 83-year-old Jennifer Klass has also achieved her lifelong dream of homeownership.

The 83-year-old female said that she felt elated to finally be a proud homeowner, having received the keys to her new home on Thursday.

The houses to these families have been provided under the Core Homes Project being ran by the Government of Guyana, Inter-America Development Bank and Adequate Housing and Urban Accessibility Programme.

The keys of the houses were presented by the Housing and Water Minister, Collin Croal to the families at the site of their new homes.

The beneficiaries of these houses were Shabina Haniff of Lot 393 Hope, Jennifer Klass of Lot 81 Sparendaam, Egland Campbell of Lot 100 Sparendaam, and Nigel Ralph of Lot 51 Goedverwagting.

Notably, Klass lived with relatives on a family property for decades but things went downhill after she everything in a tragic fire some time ago.

After receiving the keys to her new house, Klass outlined, “I am happy to finally own something of my own, a place I can call home and be comfortable.”

Another beneficiary, Campbell lauded the initiative, saying he allowed the process to work, and it was all worth the wait. [caption id="attachment_69622" align="aligncenter" width="588"] Egland Campbell of Lot 100 Sparendaam[/caption]

On the occasion, Minister Croal congratulated the new homeowners and encouraged them to make the best of it. According to Minister Croal, these units bring a total of 95 homes completed under this program.

He noted that despite some hiccups, the program is now back on track to deliver a total of 323 Core Homes to vulnerable families.

"I am pleased to say that the intended target audience is being met, and we have worked with the IDB to ensure this, as you know there was an issue with the rising cost of construction materials and the IDB agreed to increase the sum for each unit". Also, the Home Improvement Subsidy was increased from $500,000.00 to $750,000.00.

The Minister also noted that the other aspects of the Program, including the upgrading of community facilities and infrastructure, are moving apace.

Under the Core Home initiative, 71 beneficiaries have been selected from villages that fall within the project boundary on the East Coast of Demerara.

To date, four Core Homes have been handed over, four are occupied, another fifteen are under construction, and another 48 are at the procurement stage.