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Central Housing reverts housing application age policy to 21
Minister of Housing and Water, Collin Croal.
Kaieteur News – The Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) has reverted to their former policy for persons applying for house lots which says that an applicant must be 21 years old and above to apply. The announcement was given by Minister of Housing and Water, Collin Croal during an interview with the Department of Public Information (DPI) at his ministry.
The age policy requirement was changed from 18 years old to 21 years old in January 2017, under the former APNU+AFC government. In giving the reason for switching back to the old policy, Minister Croal told DPI, “The last Government did reduce the policy to 18 years, but in all practicality, if you are approaching the bank for a loan, there are certain requirements that they seek.” He further explained that the requirements included having an employment history up to three years and many 18-year-old applicants could not produce this and other necessary requirements to banks and other institutions, leaving the CH&PA system with void lots.
Under the previous administration, consultations were held on the matter by former Minister of Housing, Valerie Patterson and following that it was decided that an 18-year-old can apply for a house lot once they are eligible; however, the allocation would only be done when they reach 21. Despite this, Minister Croal still claimed that 18-year-olds would have been awarded house lots but could not afford it due to the aforementioned circumstances.
Minister Croal further went on to say that they are trying to reduce the number of void applications in the system. “What we want is that when you have an allocation, you are eligible for a loan and that you can build immediately,” the Minister said.
It was stated that the housing system obtained over 1,700 applications from persons between the ages of 18-21 but from their time of application to now, many of them have reached the required age and will not be affected by the policy change.
Many young Guyanese were outraged with the new policy and took to social media to raise their concerns. Most of them contended that applying for a house lot at 18 years old is a wise decision since there is a lengthy processing time and adding to that, an allocation is only done once the applicant reaches 21. It was stated that if they apply at 18, they would have the time to raise the necessary finances so that they would be able to pay for the house lot once it is allocated.
Former Minister of Housing, Valerie Patterson shared the same sentiments when she said, “As soon as you attain the age of eighteen, you should be able to apply. Then between 18 and 21, you should qualify. Even if you don’t have the wherewithal to pay, you should still apply because by the time it (application) is processed, you should be able to afford it.” Her statement was made at a youth consultation in Linden regarding the same issue.
The youths also raised the point that at 18, young people can get their driver’s licence and be eligible to determine who leads them by voting so there is no reason why they should not be able to access a plot of land. Under the former government, it was also recommended that they engage with local banks to make the process of obtaining loans for housing easier for young people, and also for them to get lower rates of interest.
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