During the General Election Campaign, I spoke extensively about the need for affordable housing in District One and throughout Anguilla. There was and is a great need, particularly among our young people, for homeownership, as many of them struggle to gain the financial independence necessary to move out of their parent’s homes and to occupy a home of their choosing.
I proposed the following steps to achieve this within the Anguilla context:
• Attracting Foreign Direct Investment for Housing Projects
• Developing a Low-Income Housing Programme
• Establish a special credit facility for borrowers
• Transforming abandoned properties into rent-to-own units
These proposals are still valid and should be fully ventilated in the public sphere and among our decision-makers. This is a critical time – we need to develop comprehensive solutions to the problems affecting our people.
I am deeply concerned about what I can only describe as a severe Housing Crisis that is developing in Anguilla. In light of the extensive harm that has been caused to our economy by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the housing situation in Anguilla is a major issue.
Many persons who have lost their jobs are unable to pay rent and maybe facing eviction or are forced to move back home with their parents. Some landlords (property owners) are unable to service their mortgage payments. And a number of properties are in danger of foreclosure.
Any of these contingencies would be a recipe for a major housing crisis in our country with severe repercussions for our people. This can also create a unique situation in which a select group of persons, both at home and overseas, may seek to purchase foreclosed properties at a bargain price, making land and homeownership for the ordinary Anguillian a significant challenge and for some a growing impossibility.
What can our legislators do to address these issues? One possible solution would be to investigate how the implementation of rent controls and regulations may be capable of stabilizing the unfolding situation. This would also need to be implemented in consultation with landlords and property owners, and with the lending institutions who have a vested interest in ensuring that their mortgages are being serviced.
The UK Parliament passed a comprehensive Coronavirus Act 2020 that laid out the following in relation to housing difficulties:
• The Act provides protection to social and private tenants by delaying when landlords can start proceedings to evict tenants.
• This means that from 29 August 2020, with the exception of the most serious cases, landlords are not able to start possession proceedings unless they have given their tenants 6 months’ notice. These serious cases include those in relation to anti-social behavior (including rioting), domestic abuse, false statement, and where a tenant has accrued rent arrears to the value of over 6 months’ rent.
• Specifically for landlords, the mortgage holiday will be extended, with applications open to 31 January 2021. Borrowers, including those with a Buy to Let mortgage, who have been impacted by Coronavirus and have not yet had a mortgage payment holiday will be entitled to a 6-month holiday, and those that have already started a mortgage payment holiday will be able to top up to 6 months without this being recorded on their credit file.
• There will be a moratorium on the enforcement of lender repossession until 31 January 2021, except for exceptional cases (such as a borrower requesting proceeding continue).
(UK Parliament, Guidance for Landlords and Tenants – https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-and-renting-guidance-for-landlords-tenants-and-local-authorities/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-for-landlords-and-tenants)
As we can see, the UK Parliament has taken serious steps to protect its citizens from the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. Of course, Anguilla has very limited resources and, with the 2020 budgetary support continuing to shrink, the upcoming negotiations will be critical. However, we must take a proactive and consultative approach to see how best we can address the issues that confront our people.
It is my hope that the economic situation in our country will improve. The pace of any such improvement, however, will be heavily dependent on many external factors outside our control. The latest news on a viable vaccine is promising and we await further developments. What is needed now in our country is a comprehensive assessment of the housing situation, to ensure that our people are protected as far as practica
