23.I.I The housing situation in Guyana is desperate. There is strong evidence of insecure tenure and increasing levels of homelessness. Though Guyana’s population growth rates have now become minimal, current housing needs still cannot be adequately met for the major part of the existing population.

23.I.2 An estimated 33 percent of the country’s housing stock is over 30 years old, and most have not been properly maintained.

23.I.3 The country needs, at the minimum, the building of 5,200 housing units each year for at least the next ten years. This total is made up of 1,200 new household formations every year, and 4,000 units to replace deteriorating stocks and ease over-crowding.

23.I.4 About one-third of the new housing units are required in Georgetown alone, the other two-thirds being in demand in the country’s other five towns, in semi-urban districts, and in a few rural areas.

23.I.5 Approximately 60 percent of the Guyanese population lives in their own homes; close to one quarter of households are renting; and the rest are occupied in rent- free accommodation.

23.I.6 The cost of building a house in Guyana is relatively high. It is high mainly because GUYSUCO and the Government together own about 90 percent of the available land around the towns on the coastal strip of the country. As a result of this virtual monopoly in land ownership, the cost of land is inordinately high, and the private sector is in great part inhibited from engaging meaningfully in house construction.

23.I.7 Another consequence of this preponderance of government land ownership is the fact that a not insignificant proportion (twenty percent) of the households in Guyana is forced to squat or illegally occupy government-owned lands.

23.I.8 Other factors contribute to the slow rate of house construction: inadequate funding in the housing section; moribund methods of transferring land titles; an extremely slow distribution and development process; and seemingly political interference in land distribution. In addition the Central Housing and Planning Authority, (CH&PA), the sole government executing agency for housing projects, is inadequately staffed, in both qualitative and quantitative terms. Indeed, it has been pointed out by one of the International Financial Institutions that the weakness of the CH&PA is a key target for both project investment and policy reform.

23.I.9 Between 1993 and 1998 the CH&PA allocated about 20,000 houselots, and it is estimated that in 1999 another 4,000 would have been distributed. This is an impressive performance. It cannot be emphasised too strongly, however, that what have been given out are not houses, but pieces of land on which it is meant that houses would be built. Moreover, little or no developmental work has been undertaken on many of the houselots, and few houses have been built on the lots that have been distributed. The exercise is more one of land divestment than of house construction.

23.I.10 At the beginning of 1999 there was a backlog of approximately 20,000 applications, dating back to 1993. And although an appreciable number of applications was processed during 1999, the increased number of new applicants more than compensated for those processed. In other words, the quantum of the backlog remains virtually constant.

23.I.11 What is most reprehensible is the feeling in many parts of the country that the household selection process is still characterised by high degrees of opacity, ministerial interference, extreme elements of official discretion and, perhaps not surprisingly, by a great amount of social and political wrangling.

23.I.12 The current land distribution policies seem geared to favour low-income families with a minimum number of five children. It is obvious that such policies effectively exclude and act against young people and the unmarried. It also militates against marriages by younger couples because they cannot move into houses of their own. In addition, it promotes, albeit unwittingly, out-of-wedlock relationships, and contributes to a general sexual promiscuity.

23.I.13 A house costing G$320,000 represents the most basic of standards; yet such a building would still be out of the reach of the average Guyanese income earner.

23.I.14 Other almost inevitable consequences of this failure of supply even to approach demand, are high house-lot and house prices, and high rents. Indeed, the selling prices of houses are, on average, about seven times annual household incomes, and monthly rents are from one-half to two-thirds average monthly earnings.

23.I.15 ince Government owns the bulk of developable land in urban areas, serviced lands are scarce, prices are extremely high, and are affordable only to the elite.

23.I.16 Mortgage financing for middle and upper income households in Guyana is relatively easily available. However, it is often a daunting exercise for the low income classes to obtain loans for housing. This is so partly because there are very few specialised mortgage lenders in Guyana, and partly because of the complex of collateral conditions which the existing mortgage institutions require.

23.I.17 In the two most recent Household Income and Expenditure Surveys, food was clearly the dominant item of expenditure throughout the country. However, in Georgetown, housing was the next highest. It is important, therefore, that this sector be given high priority in the country’s quest to eradicate poverty. In this regard, it should be noted that the salaried employee in both the public and private sectors is, apart from the seriously poor, the most affected in respect of housing.

23.I.18 There exists in Guyana a system of rent controls which contributes to the limiting of the supply of rental units, as they make property owners more reluctant to put their houses out for rent, and unwilling to maintain those that are rented.

23.II.1 As has been demonstrated in the chapter on "Land" in this National Development Strategy, land law in Guyana is both archaic and complex. The issues which were discussed in respect of land for agriculture in that chapter apply with equal force to land that is to be used for housing. It is evident therefore that the measures which will be put in place in order to rationalise the transfer of agriculture land must also be used with respect to housing land. Indeed, the same institutions, and the same law officers and surveyors will be employed in order to speed up the transfer of titles.

23.II.2 Another stumbling block in respect of the administration of land for housing lies in the CH&PA. As pointed our earlier, this institution is not only short of staff but many of the personnel who are employed by the Authority do not possess the qualifications that they need to perform their tasks effectively. Moreover, the activities of the Authority need to be more decentralised, and the functions of various categories of staff more clearly described and delineated. In the recent past, the CH&PA did not have at its disposal certain pieces of vital information such as the number of housing lots it had developed, their location, and the amounts of money paid to, and owed to them. This list is not exhaustive, but is sufficiently long to indicate this seriousness of the problem. The information is now being collected, but has not as yet been put on computers.

23.II.3 There is neither a tradition of proactive planning, nor of integrating planning by the CH&PA into national plans, nor of conducting feasibility studies for urban infrastractural projects, nor of developing implementation programmes, in addition to the plans themselves.

23.II.4 As an international report has stated "massive low/moderate-income home lending is a specialised business for which Guyana’s mortgage lenders – who have changed little in 30 years – are currently unprepared and is likely to cause great problems for them." Special training processes for bank managers and employees ought to be undertaken in these areas. In addition, the possibility of establishing a special house mortgaging bank, or a special window in a general development bank, ought to be explored.

23.II.5 The lack of private land markets, combined with the absence of adequate mortgage facilities in commercial banks, limits the possibilities of the private sector to play a greater role in assisting in solving the housing shortage. In general, the current policy framework has not sufficiently encouraged the private sector in this direction. Incentives such as the allocation of State lands, and the enhancement of tax incentives in construction activities, should be used to attract private investment in housing.

23.II.6 Moreover, transaction and administrative costs for mortgages to low-income borrowers appear to have risen considerably and are now very high in relation to the costs of other types of debt investment.

23.II.7 Furthermore, the relatively high bank interest rates mitigate against would-be homeowners, by making monthly mortgage payments extremely high. Tax relief should continue to be given on mortgage interests.

23.II.8 In order to overcome the difficulty of mortgage financing, the exemption from corporate taxes which the New Building Society now enjoys should be extended to all mortgage lending. This would stimulate greater competition.

23.II.9 Because of the limited availability of houses, there has been an increase in the instances of informal housing development in urban areas. There are also the significant issues of congestion, and the financial inability of many citizens to maintain building standards. This has resulted in high incidences of housing decay in some areas and, on a very large scale, in some housing areas which have been categorised as being "depressed", to use what must be the greatest of euphemisms. This is particularly true in Georgetown, of some parts of Lodge District, Charlestown and Albouystown. There are other districts not only in all the other urban areas, but also in the rural, to which the appelation of "depressed" may also be applied. Government should therefore improve access to land for housing estates.

23.II.10 Insufficient emphasis is being placed by the University of Guyana, and other relevant training institutions, on the development of curricula that include advanced planning techniques and strategies for urban and economic development. This defect should be addressed since there is shortage of qualified specialists to fill key positions in these disciplines.

23.II.11 The high costs of materials, labour and machinery are also among the major constraints that restrict housing development. Moreover, the construction industry in Guyana seems to lack creativity and the ability to adapt and adopt. As a consequence, new and cheaper but effective building techniques and technologies are not being applied.

23.II.12 Given the present level of costs and the current levels of need, it does not seem obvious that the housing development problem can be addressed largely by market-oriented approaches. The existing situation may be characterised as one where the demand and supply curves interact at a very low level of provision. There is therefore an evident need for the State to intervene in specific areas.

23.II.13 Having said this, however, the financing problem could also be seen in terms of market development. In principle, if steps could be taken to lower drastically the present cost of providing housing services, a genuine market will begin to emerge.

23.II.14 There are three avenues which are worth rendering as we seek to revive the supply side of the low-cost housing market: re-examining the present technology of low-cost housing; restoring a community approach to providing labour for low cost housing; and removing the fiscal burden that is currently borne by providers of low-cost housing.

23.II.15 An alternative, though not mutually exclusive, approach would be to bring the market alive from the demand side. In this situation it will be necessary for the government to institute a targeted voucher programme. If, for example, the government adopts a timeframe of five years to deal with the housing problem, with current rates of inflation, between US$25 and US$30 million will be needed annually for the programme.

23.II.16 It is to be expected that, with the squatting explosion, serious legal and social problems are being created. These include a violation of property rights, multiple occupancy with exorbitant levels of overcrowding which have effects on hygiene and sanitation, and criminal activity. While it is true that those who settled in squatter communities prior to March 1993 may be able to claim ownership titles, the new policy of the government is that squatting will no longer be tolerated. Firm action is needed but it must be complemented by measures such as improved access to both land and finance.

23.II.17 With respect to private sector participation, research has indicated that many private developers are reluctant to enter into any house provision scheme given the unlikeliness of being able to recoup capital expenditure. Perhaps such individuals may be motivated to intervene in ameliorating the housing situation if the government provided incentives such as land for private development in order to reduce housing costs.

23.II.18 A special effort should be made to link housing policy to community development. The government should increase its land distribution activities to specific communities, provide adequate infrastructural services, encourage targeted communities to work together, and train them in the basic house building skills. Such exercises should seek to build on the resourcefulness of community-based organizations.

23.II.19 The government should proceed with the regularization of pre-1993 squatters by quickly allowing them title to their lands and providing basic infrastructure in the squatting communities. The recent Housing survey indicated that 93 percent of the interviewed population expressed a desire to be involved in self-help projects. Guyanese seem willing to participate in self-help and community projects such as digging drains, laying water pipes and building access roads.

23.II.20 In order to widen and strengthen the housing market, it will be important to bring all the income groups into the picture. This can be done by the use of creative financing mechanisms like that of the Jordanian Housing Bank, which employs a lottery system instead of the interest rate to attract savings deposits. This approach can be supplemented by more traditional methods like the issuing of housing bonds. Funds from the bond issues would be earmarked to housing projects.

23.II.21 As has been emphasised, the private sector should be activated. Their involvement could be enhanced by tax incentives in construction activities. Moreover, any remaining rent restrictions should be removed. Tax relief should continue on mortgage interests and Government should improve access to land for housing estates.

23.II.22 It has been noted earlier that in Guyana land prices are high, while there is an abundance of unoccupied land. It has also been stressed that one of the reasons for this is the fact that the Government and GUYSUCO own most of this land, and distribute it to the citizens of this country as though they were being given manna from above. In addition to this overarching restriction on residential land-use there is an anachronistic legal system which dates back to the 1930s, and which has little or no applicability to modern concepts of development. These laws include the Public Health Ordinance, the Housing Act, and the Town and County Act.

23.II.23 In areas such as housing, and in the special circumstances of Guyana, the IFIs should be requested by the Government of Guyana to permit targeted subsidies for those who now occupy the lowest economic and social rungs of the developmental ladder. The efforts of the Government must be focused on particular groups e.g. the rural poor, the urban poor, and the poor of the hinterland. This strategy of concentration should be designed to prevent the not-so-poor from profiting from subsidies that are meant for the truly indigent.

23.II.24 Special attention ought to be paid to the conditions of the urban dwellers in the slums, and to the necessity of relocating the urban poor.

23.III.1 The principal specific objectives in the area of housing are: (i) to expand the supply of housing more rapidly; (ii) to make housing as affordable as possible; and (iii) to provide improved access to housing for poor families.

23.III.2 The operational objectives that must be fulfilled as preconditions for meeting these objectives include: (i) the provision of greater access to affordable funding for housing development; (ii) the provision of greater access to serviced lands; (iii) the elimination of institutional delays in the approval of building plans and the allocation of land; (iv) the establishment of conditions that would facilitate the private sector to play a greater role in developing land for housing and in the construction of houses; (v) the development of special programmes of financial support for lower-income families that would assist them in making rental and mortgage payments; (vi) the regularisation of informal housing development, (vii) the reformation of the laws governing rentals with the aim of increasing the availability of rental housing; and (viii) the development of mechanisms for the greater involvement of NGOs in housing programmes for the poor.

23.IV.1 A special fund will be established for providing rental supplements to low-income families who meet strict criteria of eligibility. The Board of the fund will include representatives of CH&PA, the municipalities and NDCs, SIMAP, NGOs, and the Ministry of Finance. Once an application is approved, on evidence of the family's income levels and the rental contract, the fund will provide monthly coupons that can be redeemed through the banking system. Both renter and landlord would be required to sign each monthly coupon, and then the landlord could redeem it directly, as part of his or her rental income. It is suggested that the upper limit on the value of the monthly coupons be approximately G$15,000 at the beginning, and that this limit be revised annually in view of registered inflation rates. Contributions to the fund will be made by the Central Government. International contributions will be sought as well.

23.IV.2 A fund for supplementing the mortgage payments of low-income families will be structured in a manner similar to the one described above. Its operating rules will also be similar although, in this case, under the eligibility criteria, the topping-out level of family income will be somewhat higher than for the previous fund. The fund for mortgage supplements will assist families of low incomes to make down-payments on houses, provided that they put some of their own funds into the payment, and then it will supplement their monthly mortgage servicing. It is suggested that assistance on the down-payment be provided in a matching fashion, with a maximum amount of G$250,000 that could be drawn from the fund for this purpose. The upper limit on assistance with monthly mortgage payments would be established at G$20,000, made directly to the financing institution. Both sums would be adjusted annually for inflation. Again, the fund would depend on contributions from both the Central Government and the international community.

23.IV.3 As well as assisting the poor directly, the presence of these two funds will have the beneficial effect of stimulating private investors to provide more housing, in the knowledge that the effective demand would have increased considerably for this type of housing.

23.IV.4 In addition to these special funds, the Government will establish a rediscount line in the Central Bank that will provide an incentive to commercial banks to extend mortgage loans, in exchange for their reducing interest rates on mortgages below the equivalent level for other classes of loans, by a specified number of percentage points. The subsidy inherent in this rediscount line will be funded explicitly from the annual Central Government budget, with the possible additional contribution of international funding. Through this financial facility, banks will be encouraged to place a higher share of their assets in mortgages without incurring the risk of weakening their capital base because of below-market interest rates.

23.IV.5 The subsidies which are targeted on lower income families in the case of the two special funds, and on lower and middle income families for the mortgage rediscount line, will permit the necessary reforms of mortgage finance institutions. A probing review of these institutions will be carried out, to redefine their role and their manner of operating. The goal of the review will be to seek ways to increase the mortgage content of their asset portfolio. Without prejudging the findings of the review, it can be said that the operations of the two special funds and the rediscount facility will at least permit NBS to raise its interest rates on loans, thus making it more feasible, financially, for it to place more funds in mortgages.

23.IV.6 Incentives will be provided to the NBS to (i) increase the maximum mortgage loan to 90 percent of value; (ii) give short-term loans to finance the acquisition of serviced sites; and (iii) review the reform on their G$5 share holdings to keep them in line with alternative investments.

23.IV.7 A pilot housing micro-credit programme with IPED will be organised to finance basic home improvements.

23.IV.8 The fundamental institutional objective regarding mortgage finance is to make the institution(s) financially viable over the longer run, in keeping with one of the fundamental policy conditions established for this National Development Strategy. This requires that they be efficient in their financial intermediation, capable of mobilising sufficient quantities of resources, and not dependent on recurring transfers from the Central Government. Among other things, they must demonstrate a high level of loan recovery. If not, they will lose the power to attract deposits as well as face a deteriorated capital base.

23.IV.9 If the institutions are not viable in these respects, Government will eventually find that the burden of sustaining them is insupportable. The institutions will then be forced to curtail operations, thereby losing the ability to provide support to the citizenry for the acquisition of homes.

23.IV.10 Laws and regulations that would permit financial institutions to recover the collateral in cases of default will be strengthened, or otherwise the commitment to service a mortgage would become almost a meaningless gesture from the viewpoint of mortgage finance institutions, and those institutions would be doomed to insolvency.

23.IV.11 Land for housing will be granted free of charge to all those below the poverty line.

23.IV.12 Regional land selection committees for houses will be given the authority to review applications, interview applicants, or representative of groups of applicants, and make recommendations before forwarding them to the CH&PA.

23.IV.13 The members of the land selection committees will be elected to office by the people of the relevant district or ward. It is important that the composition of the committee reflects the people’s choice.

23.IV.14 No more than three months will be taken from the time of receiving the application to make the decisions on whether to allocate the plot or not, and to communicate such decision to the applicant.

23.IV.15 The acute shortage of land for housing in urban areas, especially in Georgetown, will be addressed as a priority matter. Government will initiate a programme of making land available in freehold to entrepreneurs who will commit themselves, by way of strict agreements, to constructing houses on the lots. The preferable mechanism for providing land in this way will be through public auctions to interested investors. Government will also commit itself to supplying infrastructural services to such land. Unutilised sugar estate lands, among others, will be dedicated to this purpose.

23.IV.16 The private sector will also be encouraged to construct high-rise blocks of apartments for use by the middle class, or for offices, particularly in some of the areas to be cleared of slums. These high-rise apartments will relieve the pressure on urban land, provide security from vandals, and offer proximity to business enterprises, workplaces etc.

23.IV.17 Government will also accelerate its programme of supplying serviced lots to needy families, with priority being given to those who participate in cooperative ventures which will assist with the labours of construction and the obtention of building supplies. Such lots will be transported in freehold to the beneficiaries, with mortgages extended through the NBS and with the financial assistance of the special fund for supplementing mortgage payments. The selection procedures for recipients of the serviced lots will be reviewed with the aim of making them more rigorous, transparent, and objective. More specifically, the procedures for the allocation of house lots will follow those laid down for the allocation of agricultural land. For ease of reference the provisions are repeated below.

23.IV.18 The current criteria for the allocation of land will be revised to accommodate the poor, youths and the unmarried. Different types of housing units will be recommended for these new recipients.

23.IV.19 A number of townships will be established to assist in the resettlement of youths, public servants, members of the trades unions, members of both the urban and rural poor, and other groups in the country.

23.IV.20 These townships will be designed to emphasize the clear interdependence between urban and rural settlements, and to take advantage of their synergies.

23.IV.21 These semi-urban settlements will be designed to house and provide job opportunities and social facilities for 1,000 families in self-sustainable townships.

23.IV.22 Unutilised sugar lands or unutilised government lands on the outskirts of the towns, and areas in the Intermediate and Rupununi Savannahs, or sites in any other part of the country in which there is land that is suitable for the purposes of the projects, will be selected.

23.IV.23 The Government will, with the assistance of the private sector, develop these lands.

23.IV.24 The private sector will be encouraged to assist through the provision of tax incentives and free land, if it agrees to establish businesses and enterprises in specific areas of the settlement.

23.IV.25 Areas in each settlement, will be set aside for religious worship, a community centre, a primary and a secondary school, a health centre, administrative services, and commercial and industrial activity.

23.IV.26 Each family will be allocated one acre of land for housing. In addition, each family will be provided with an agreed amount of land for either agriculture, or manufacturing or commercial enterprise, or trade, etc.

23.IV.27 All settlers will, of course, have to agree voluntarily to the proposals and arrangements before participating in the projects.

23.IV.28 No attempt will be made rigorously to establish patterns of settlement. However guidelines will be drawn up in order to make the schemes as cost effective as possible. It is suggested that:-

1. the townships would be circular in shape;

2. that there would be in the centre of this circle, i.e. in the centre of the township, a substantial area of public open space, bordered by trees and perhaps lined with seats for recreation, and with perhaps a fountain in the middle, such as obtains in many small South American towns;

3. immediately surrounding this central space would be the areas for commercial activities, shops, a library, pharmacies, etc; in other words a kind of peripheral mall;

4. the residential houses will be located at the back of the commercial centre, but will be separated by a green buffer belt from it;

5. surrounding the residential area, but buffered by another but more exclusive green zone would be the industrial area;

6. on the far periphery of the townships will be areas allocated for farming;

7. the streets will radiate from the centre. Crossroads will connect the radii;

23.IV.29 Zoning laws will be promulgated and strictly enforced.

23.IV.30 There will be legal security of tenure. In other words freehold titles will be issued.

23.IV.31 Settlers will be required to pay for the land and services over time. There will be different rates for different types of land-uses and different types of settler.

23.IV.32 Although full cost recovery will be the ultimate objective there will be varying arrangements for settlers of different means and requirements.

23.IV.33 Banks, Credit Unions, savings and credit co-ops, etc. will be utilised by the settlers as much as possible, through the facilitation of government for their financial needs. In other words, special provisions for access to developmental financing will be put in place by government.

23.IV.34 It cannot be too strongly emphasised, that in all stages of settlement, there will be full consultation among the settlers, the trade unions, the government and the private sector.

23.IV.35 NGOs will be urged to participate as fully as possible in this type of project.

23.IV.36 While the physical and other development and preparatory works are being undertaken, the proposed settlers will be given intensive training in all relevant areas of their proposed occupations.

23.IV.37 This Strategy finds it imperative to regularise the situation of squatters, so that they may improve the conditions of their shelter and receive the basic infrastructure to which all citizens are entitled. In cases of occupancy of State lands, this means providing them with freehold title, in exchange for a mortgage with the NBS and assistance from the special fund for supplementing mortgage payments. Squatters will be made fully aware of the great responsibility implied by the mortgage, and of the consequences of failing to honor it. NGOs will be encouraged to engage in educational campaigns with squatter families regarding the new policies, their benefits and their responsibilities.

23.IV.38 Instances of squatting on private lands will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, and each time one of two outcomes needs to result: either i) the land will be returned to its rightful owner, or ii) the owner will be compensated for it and the squatter will be given title and the concomitant mortgage facilities. In cases in which the regularising of squatting on private lands requires compensation to former owners, such compensation will be channeled through the NBS and a special facility will be established in the NBS for that purpose.

23.IV.39 The experience of many countries has demonstrated that titling the land of squatters results in rapid and significant improvements in the quality of the shelter of those populations.

23.IV.40 At the same time, new attempts to squat on private or public lands will be rigorously resisted; without such a policy, the zoning of State lands and the concept of property for private urban lands will become mere ideas that are void of much actual content. The opening of new lands for housing and the new forms of financial assistance for housing that are established in this Strategy will provide the poor with sufficiently attractive options to squatting.

23.IV.41 The rental regulations will be recast as they have become counterproductive, as explained previously. Landlords and tenants will be free to reach agreement on rental levels, subject only to registering the rental contract with the CH&PA. This is part and parcel of our new philosophy of liberalisation. The existence of the special fund for rental supplements for poor families will obviate the need to try to control rents, which generally leads to substandard housing maintenance. The right of the landlord to recover the property at the termination of the contract will be unambiguously affirmed. Equally, tenants will be provided with the power of recourse, especially in instances of landlords failing to make necessary structural repairs.

23.IV.42 This kind of reform will lead to an expansion in the supply of rental housing available, while deserving tenants will benefit financially from the special fund.

23.IV.43 A recent study has demonstrated in detail that modular housing, utilising wood from Guyana’s forests, can reduce the cost of home construction by as much as fifty percent. This avenue will be explored, mainly for the benefits in the form of affordable shelter, but it could also provide benefits in the form of more employment and savings in foreign exchange. Government will develop a programme to support the construction, on a pilot basis, of a number of modular homes of this nature, to be sold to low income families with the assistance of the special fund for mortgage supplements. At the conclusion of the pilot project, it will be evaluated to determine its benefits and the wisdom of repeating it on a larger scale.

23.IV.44 At the same time, Government will implement a programme of constructing houses with prefabricated low-cost imported material. Because such houses can be erected more quickly and cheaply than comparable locally-produced structures, they may be ideal for the rapid production of low income homes in Guyana.

23.IV.45 Through the Institute of Applied Science and Technology (IAST), the Government will facilitate the development of low-cost building materials.

23.IV.46 There is an increase in the number of buildings that are being constructed in the towns without the permission of the municipalities and the Central Housing and Planning Authority. To eliminate this practice, municipalities will be given precise guidelines concerning the issuance of building permissions, so that all constructions and renovations may follow the approved building standards. The CH&PA has not always supported areas identified by municipalities for residential purposes or industrial sites. Mechanisms will therefore be put in place for closer coordination and collaboration between the CH&PA and the municipalities.

23.IV.47 The private sector will be provided with tax exemptions on materials used in housing, and with reductions in income and profit taxes for engaging in housing development.

23.IV.48 Fiscal encouragement will be given to the banks and other financial institutions which provide long-term mortgages of up to 30 years at lower rates of interest.

23.IV.49 Financial intermediacies will be authorised to issue tax-free housing bonds to finance low-cost housing.

23.IV.50 Banks will also be encouraged by way of incentives, to adapt the Jordanian Housing Bank Model to Guyana’s housing situation. In order to attract savings deposits, banks will employ a lottery system in which the winners will be rewarded with houses.

23.IV.51 Low income tax households will be retroactively reimbursed for the withholding tax on savings interested in owner-occupied homes.

23.IV.52 A National Housing Trust, based on a payroll tax as has been so successfully implemented in Jamaica, will be established. The funds so mobilised will be channeled through a private sector that will be challenged to provide affordable housing through technological innovation. Under such a scheme, houses will be allocated by lottery to eligible candidates in order to remove any scope for partiality.

23.IV.53 There will be a resuscitation of the self-help schemes which have contributed so much to housing development in Guyana in the 1960s and 1970s. Special training courses in the rudiments of house building will be conducted for potential house owners. Some of the lots for such self-help schemes will be allocated free to those below the poverty level. The special fund for supplementing the mortgage payments of low-income families will also apply to structures constructed by self-help.

23.IV.54 Rural and urban communities will be mobilised by all the social partners, including NGOs, to organise these self-help communities, and to assist them in every way possible.

23.IV.55 Self-help communities that are organised for the construction of houses for those below the poverty line will be provided with duty free materials when it is necessary to import them.

23.IV.56 The basic infrastructure for housing lots will be installed over a realistic period, with community participation and other institutional assistance.

23.IV.57 Legislation will be passed with the approval of the Public Servants Union to enable the pension funds of Public Servants to be used both as collateral and for captialisation in housing projects for both Public Service housing schemes and for Public Service individuals.

23.IV.58 The government will also facilitate the accumulation of financial resources by Trade Unions, and the seeking of concessional financing for residential construction by them.

23.IV.59 The Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) will be restructured and upgraded, so that it may continue to be the Government’s instrument through which the housing sector will be facilitated and national policy maintained and upgraded. It will be restructured around the implementation of a manageable number of distinct lines of business. These will include (i) developing raw land into serviced, individually titled residential lots; (ii) preparing national land-use and settlement plans to guide local decisions; (iii) regularising squatter areas that generally conform to acceptable settlement patterns; (iv) improving depressed areas and removing environmentally unsound settlements; and (v) providing Guyana with reliable information systems to support planning and other policy making.

23.IV.60 The Housing, Housing Development, Town and Country Planning, and Condominium Acts will be brought up to date.

23.IV.61 A modern Building Code will be designed and implemented.

23.IV.62 Regulations will be put in place to reduce the time needed to establish absolute title of residential land ownership.

23.IV.63 A "one-stop shop", with technical competence and authority to oversee all surveying, site preparation, infrastructure construction, and conveyancing will be established.

23.IV.64 The Town and Country Planning Act, using the Model Physical Planning Bill prepared by UNDP/UNCHS for OECS, will be modernised.

23.IV.65 Comprehensive development plans for all population centres will be prepared, and a Geographic Information System with supplementary staff, training and financing will be established.

23.IV.66 Infrastructural standards that permit the progressive upgrading of communities will be developed to replace the single infrastructure standard that now exists and is too costly for low-income neighborhoods.