My Fellow Citizens,
In the pages which follow is a vision for homeownership for our people. This policy sets out, simply and precisely, how that vision will be achieved and who its many beneficiaries are. From the oldest members of our society, to young families considering owning their first residence, to the physically and mentally challenged…All will find their particular needs addressed here.   

Our Prime Minister, The Honourable Patrick Manning, has committed his Government to a ten-year plan for home creation. At the end of this period, some 100,000 different kinds of new “shelter solutions” will have been constructed and thousands of our citizens will have found employment  in building them. 

In the immediate future, you can expect nearly 3,000 new homes before the end of 2003, and a further 10,000 each year over each subsequent year. We have earmarked 30 sites around the country, so that people can live close to jobs, schools, and the communities to which they are attached.  

The only way we can hope to make a commitment of this scale materialise is with the resources of many different sectors of Government, many of which have contributed to this Policy: the Ministeries of Housing, Planning and Finance; the Urban Development Company of Trinidad & Tobago; the Trinidad & Tobago Mortgage and Finance Company; The Home Mortgage Bank and others. These institutions, together with our top local architects and developers, are already deeply involved in the planning and design process, and the first of the projects will soon be underway. We intend to build the kind of accommodation that people are eager to live in – suited to our Caribbean lifestyle and weather. 

This is the beginning of a housing transformation throughout the country. We have already begun to pave the way for “Showing Trinidad & Tobago A New Way Home”.  

Sincerely – The Honourable Keith Rowley, Minister of Housing