Staff Writer 

#TurksandCaicos, August 11, 2023 – Many Turks and Caicos Islanders are spending unsustainable amounts of money on housing, according to data gathered by the Housing Department via the National Housing Needs Survey, emphasizing the need for affordable homes.

Dominique Durham, Deputy Permanent Secretary of Physical Planning and Infrastructure Development

“Respondents of that Survey provided that the majority of households spend more than 50 percent of their income on housing expenses.  Now, as a rule of thumb, especially in America, if you spend more than 30 percent of your income on housing, it is deemed not affordable,” Dominique Durham, Deputy Permanent Secretary of Physical Planning and Infrastructure Development, revealed.

He shared other significant data collected that showed the dire state of the housing market locally, including that nearly a quarter of residents live in damaged homes.

“It also revealed that 21 percent [of respondents] are living in homes in need of repair and 69 percent are looking to purchase a new home within the next five years,” Durham said.

Despite the intent to buy a home, the survey also revealed that many Turks and Caicos residents thought the housing market needed more affordable options for them to be able to bring that dream to fruition.

The majority of residents (32 percent) voted for the Government to create more options for affordable housing when asked what would best improve their housing needs.

Other popular suggestions included:

• Creating Government housing loan programs (25 percent)
• Housing subsidies (15 percent)
• Home improvement/refurbishment programs  (11 percent)

All of those suggestions voted on by residents have made their way into the Housing Policy as either short-term or long-term programs.

Jamell Robinson, Minister of Physical Planning and Infrastructure Development

“Long-term projects include inclusionary zoning, large-scale housing through public-private partnerships, and eventually, we will be establishing a National Housing Authority and Trust whereby we hope to lend at affordable interest rates.  We also are looking to roll out help-to-buy schemes in the near future as we appreciate that an issue is also access to financing,” he said.

The Government is aiming to use these suggestions, voted on by residents, to fix the gaping hole in the market, but even with these new programs, there’s one thing residents say they need to purchase homes– better pay.

Jamell Robinson, Minister of Physical Planning and Infrastructure Development, was hit with the question of whether the Government would start to pay residents more so they could have more cash to afford housing.

The minister said step one was increasing public cash flow (with a pay and grade review for the public service now being conducted), and step two was upskilling all individuals to make them more marketable in the private sector.

“Our Job– is to ensure that our citizens as Turks and Caicos islanders can add value to themselves so they can participate more in the open market, and one of those ways is by making the community college free so you can access higher education– in a free open market which we have here, it’s hard to dictate to the private sector what they can pay a specific individual so we want to grow our individuals to make sure that they can level up,” he explained.

The Housing Policy launched on July 27th in Providenciales.

Staff Writer 

#TurksandCaicos, March 14, 2023 – The government is actively tackling informal settlements with at least two demolitions scheduled for early March. The information was revealed at a press conference hosted on Wednesday March 1 by Jamell Robinson, Minister of Physical Planning and Infrastructure Development at CrackPot Kitchen.

“We are currently visiting two active sites that we are looking to carry out some demolishing works, one in Grand Turk and the other in the Lower Bight,” said Toriano Williams, Deputy Director of Planning.

Williams explained that the Department had already carried out the majority of its due diligence as it related to legislation including getting enforcement notices approved at the Board level, by the Director and also by the Minister.

“Sometimes these sites are sometimes the breeding grounds for criminal activities and improper use of the spaces in terms of disposal of solid waste. In any event, if there is an emergency those persons that live there are vulnerable [having] no access by emergency personnel,” he said.

Williams maintained that it was for these reasons as well as hurricane risk in unplanned areas that residents should endeavour to involve the Planning Department in all of their construction.

Jamell Robinson, Minister of PPID maintained that despite the urgency of the issue the demolitions would be carried out humanely.

“Informal settlements [have] been a vexing issue for decades in this country so we have to demonstrate to people that we are cognizant of it and we are doing something about it. We are doing it by the law and we are doing it in a humane way to make sure all involved are not adversely impacted.”

Minister Robinson confirmed that there is cooperation with the Human Rights Commission; keeping them abreast of all the steps as the demolition process progresses in order to avoid stalling or delays once the Order is given, due to humanitarian issues.

“We legitimately have to get our hands around it and it’s not only government land– what was a two-bedroom little shanty becomes a ten-bedroom in no time.”

It was 10 months ago, during the TCIs First Climate Change Summit that Washington Misick, TCI Premier made a promise that the government would address the settlements with a new task force.

Also present at the press meeting were all four PPID Departments, namely: Toriano Williams, Deputy Director of Planning; Neroy Kennedy, Director of Estate Management; Ian Constantine, Deputy Director of Capital Projects and Dominique Durham, the Director of Housing.

Photo:  Toriano Willilams, Deputy Director of Department of Planning, TCIG

Staff Writer 

#TurksandCaicos, March 9, 2023 – The Government is moving to address the looming housing shortage with three affordable housing projects to begin in the near future, according to Dominique Durham, Director of Housing in the Ministry of Physical Planning and Infrastructure Development in a recent press conference.

While he did not give an exact start date he said, “Over the next couple of weeks we will be working on an implementation plan to roll out our short term housing policies; so our first three will be our immediate housing initiatives which aim to provide affordable homes, improve the living conditions of existing homeowners as well as urbanization and renewal of communities.”

Durham, who along with his team oversaw the creation of the new Housing Policy which is now approved at the Cabinet level and will dictate, to a large extent land allocation for homes in the country, had explained that based on extensive desk and field research and surveys the Housing Department was confident it had a grasp of the housing needs in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

“With all of that, we have developed a comprehensive Housing Policy that is unique to the Turks and Caicos Islands and I’m happy to say that we finally got that approved by Cabinet after 18 months which is a big step towards providing equitable and affordable homes for Turks and Caicos Islanders,” he said

In the coming weeks, residents should expect to learn more of the Housing Policy and Plan; Mr. Durham said a detailed explanation would come in a launch of the policy.