Anxious after witnessing Housing Development Corporation (HDC) crews removing their neighbours’ belongings from their apartments, Roxanne Garcia and Peter Burnett packed their belongings and left their Cypress Hills, San Fernando home yesterday to avoid a spectacle.
Garcia’s daughters, a 12-year-old with special needs and an eight-year-old student, could only watch as their stepfather, Burnett, and a private transport team moved their furniture and appliances. Garcia, 43, a wardsmaid, spent the morning at First Citizens Bank, seeking to get back a payment she previously made to make up the $1,200 transport to their new home in Palo Seco.
Burnett said he only moved into the three-bedroom apartment two years ago but Garcia and her daughters began living there in 2016.
Garcia said she established a $1,200 standing order for the rent but learned in late 2023 that the HDC only received one payment between 2016 and 2022. Her arrears were approximately $63,000.
With loans and other expenses, Burnett said it seemed like she took too much money from her account before the rental payments went through.
Burnett told Guardian Media he asked why the HDC took so long to flag the arrears, waiting until 2023 to issue a letter inviting them to visit their office. Battling to keep their home, he and Garcia went to the bank seeking funding. Before they were attended to, however, they received a call saying the HDC and police were removing their belongings and immediately rushed home. However, it was tenants from neighbouring apartments that were being evicted.
After Burnett spoke to representatives, he asked for 48 hours to move and got up to 10 am yesterday.
Despite him and Garcia working in San Fernando and one child attending school in the city, he said the girls wanted to move.
“The children, when they saw the police come in here yesterday, the girls stated they did not want to be here anymore because of how they are afraid. They know they were down there (Palo Seco) with their mother when she was going through her little mess here. We asked them if they wanted to go. They said yes, they are ready to go. It is just that we do not want the children’s mental to be a certain way,” Burnett said.
He said life was hard for Garcia, with her having suffered through an abusive relationship and running away in 2022. She left her ex-partner in the apartment and took no-pay leave for four months to protect herself and her daughters. Police eventually helped her retrieve the apartment.
In a media release on Monday, the HDC said it was continuing its collection drive and had evicted 15 tenants who did not settle their debts after receiving Letters of Arrears. It stated that it encouraged these tenants to visit its officers to pay their debts or establish a payment plan, but they failed. Following this, it issued eviction notices and subsequently removed those who stayed. The HDC announced it would continue the exercise in Chaconia Crescent, Cypress Hills, Hilltop Villas, Real Spring and Vieux Fort housing developments.
Meanwhile, Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal labelled the evictions harsh, oppressive and malicious, calling on the HDC to work with tenants in arrears. In a statement yesterday, Moonilal, a former housing minister, chastised the Government, saying it was creating more homelessness and economic desperation daily. He said the HDC was encouraging criminal activity by demanding unreasonable payments from people who had been unemployed for years. He said the HDC and Ministry of Housing and Urban Development should alter their hard-line policy to blend empathy with law enforcement instead of callously throwing families on the streets.
Moonilal said errant tenants wanted to pay their bills and mortgages, but many did not have jobs and economic opportunities. He added that the T&T Electricity Commission also disconnected power from tenants in arrears.
“It is scandalous that the HDC squandered over $100 million at the Trestrail Housing Estate, where townhouses must now be demolished but are throwing people on the streets for $12,000. As shadow minister of housing, I have been meeting with HDC tenants who have been served with eviction notices. It is clear that if they can pay, they will pay,” Moonilal said.
Moonilal said the HDC must be reasonable and compassionate in these difficult financial times. He said it should emulate the practice during the People’s Partnership government of working one-on-one with errant tenants and property owners.
“The announced targeting of occupants of five HDC developments is ruthless and severe, especially in the midst of challenging economic times for the working class. Representatives of HDC and its asset management company should work individually with defaulting clients and negotiate a practical payment system. The corporation’s oppressive eviction of defaulting tenants and property owners will add further financial hardship to an already burdened society.”