Following the legal opinion that was issued in April 2011, the National Housing Development Trust (NHDT) was forced to allocate some of the new houses to some of the old Affordable Housing Initiative (AHI) clients.

A report by a local engineer also outlined that the old houses were not safe and presented potential liability to NHDT and central government.  NHDT could only commit to building 94 new houses based on the funds that were made available to the Trust. Hence it would impossible to transition the 107 old AHI clients into the new houses and also facilitate housing opportunities to new applicants.

The board also noted that there were approximately six clients that earned over CI$3,000 in income. Given this the board issued a notice to terminate the old AHI agreement for these individuals as they earn sufficient income and no longer need to depend on government housing.

To date NHDT has only given notices to terminate to three clients who have been in breach of the initial AHI Agreement as either they are employed but have not maintained their monthly commitments for a substantial period, or have vacated their houses and made arrangements to rent their home to others without notifying the NHDT. The nature of this initiative was not designed to be a profit-based programme.

In addition, the board notes that there are elderly individuals who are indigent and simply cannot afford to maintain their commitment. There are other cases whereby clients have been unemployed for a substantial period and do not have the means to make the monthly payments. Such individuals are being subsidised by the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). The NHDT has issued no termination notices to individuals that cannot survive out of the AHI program.

Noting that the NHDT has historically accommodated a mixture of clients with various social and economic issues, Board Deputy Chairman Allan Bush adds that NHDT is reliant on Government for viable solutions and is currently looking at ways to address this situation.