00:00Minister in the Ministry of Housing Philip Alexander says when the government began examining the
00:06system they met at the HDC, it uncovered units being occupied, sold and rented outside of the
00:13official process. The HDC that we found was basically a well-oiled criminal machine.
00:19There was theft through contracts and there was theft through housing construction,
00:24massive theft. We've gone to projects that the property that was built, the units that were
00:32built, the cost of that unit is not more than 400,000 but the HDC paid that contractor upwards
00:38of a million dollars and we don't understand why. They're not supplying land. Minister Alexander tells
00:42the Morning Edition the goal is also to move away from housing communities becoming isolated pockets
00:48of poverty and instead creating neighbourhoods where home ownership can help strengthen communities.
00:55I'm saying we but it is three ministers and a board and a management that are in place trying
01:01to right all of these wrongs. So they're putting things in place and they're putting plans and
01:06policies in place to ensure that the contracts that are awarded fit the purpose, fit the price
01:11for where for the demand so that it it stops being you hear about people a government change and you
01:19hear about people got 500 million and 600 million dollar contracts from the HDC and it's still cutting
01:27grass picking up garbage and pressure washer and it's it's not contracts that the houses. He says new
01:32checks and balances are being put in place to prevent people from exploiting the system for profit
01:38while ensuring homes go to those who genuinely need them. There were people who were buying houses
01:45from the HDC that are worth 1.1 million dollars and they get it for six hundred thousand dollars and
01:51they flip it in four months five months for eight hundred nine hundred thousand dollars and they pocket
01:56pocket the subsidy and they split it among themselves and they do it again and again. So a stop was
02:03put to
02:04that so now you can't sell your house in under 10 years and if you're selling it there's going to
02:07be a penalty
02:08Nicole M Romany, TV6 News
Comments