The Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) is preparing a comprehensive squatter regularisation, and relocation plan as part of addressing the country’s squatting issues, the Government Information Agency (GINA) has reported.
According to GINA, Senior Community Development Officer of the Ministry of Communities, Donna Bess-Bascom said there are some areas that persons have squatted on, that are considered zero-tolerance or not suitable to become housing areas eventually, “as such in those areas, persons would need to be relocated, and so as part of our strategy, we intend to have the squatter regularisation and relocation plan completed, that would encompass all of the areas that are to be regularised, as well as those that cannot be regularised.”
The Ministry of Communities through the CH&PA has been taking steps towards bringing an end to squatting. It has been advancing a focus on regularising those areas that are not zero tolerance areas, and are conducive to healthy living and relocating to areas more suitable for housing development, squatters who are living in zero-tolerance areas that are unsafe and unfit for housing.
Minister within the Ministry of Communities with responsibility for Housing Valerie Adams-Patterson, at a recent press conference had said the ministry would be moving to clean up all these squatting areas, “one at a time.”
