Minister of Housing, Lands and Maintenance, Dr. William Duguid, today broke ground on the latest National Housing Corporation (NHC) construction site at Coombs House, Whitepark Road.
Speaking at the ground breaking ceremony, Dr. Duguid said: “We’ve decided to build some Quads here. Quads are essentially apartment complexes that have four units. We decided to do that because we found that the design of it is very amenable to the passage of the air going through and also for privacy and cover of the stairs…. We’re very comfortable with the design.”
He continued: “We’re looking to do five Quads here, which will give us 20 rental units. Let’s be honest, there will always be people who cannot afford to purchase and will have to rent, and the National Housing Corporation has not built rental units for some time, and now we’re looking to get back into the rental unit construction, so that we can provide more rental units for people who are looking to get houses.”
The project, which commences in a few days, will cost $550,000 per Quad, and has a projected timeline of 10 months. Dr. Duguid also spoke about the need for the Ministry providing emergency housing.
“This is not housing that somebody would go in and stay in…. The NHC would have done emergency housing for people who are fire victims.… This is not going to be as comfortable as one of these units will be, but we are now investigating opportunities and spaces to be able to put down some emergency housing.”