Housing Foundation to start new home sales programme

  BELVEDERE--St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation (SMHDF) will soon start several new sales programmes to allow residents to purchase a home. Several new homes will be sold through this initiative. SMHDF tenants will have priority, said Foundation General Director Helen G. Salomons-Brown. Persons seeking to purchase their first home are urged to visit the main office to register for the programme. All homes are to be sold at a significantly reduced price – below market value. The revenue from the sale will be used to increase housing, cover renovations of homes, and be used for rental assistance. Meanwhile, the Foundation is continuing its repair and rehabilitation programme that started on December 5, 2016. The programme is “progressing satisfactorily,” said Salomons-Brown. The first repairs for Blocks 15, 16, and 17, which consist of a total of 19 row houses in Belvedere have been completed. The buildings are in the contractual maintenance period and tenants are urged to report any issue to the Foundation. The remaining blocks to be addressed later this year are 14, 19 and 20, consisting of a total of 16 apartments. For those buildings with roofs that cannot be replaced this year, a gel coating will be placed to mitigate possible leakage. These repairs have started in Low Estate. The initial replacement of the roofs is part of the upgrading programme which will be executed in phases over the coming years. “Tenants can rest assured that the roof repair program remains a top priority area,” said Salomons-Brown. After the completion of the roof work, the Foundation will address other components that remain to be completed, such as the doors, windows and kitchen cabinets. Additionally, the total rehabilitation of some areas including the esthetical parts will be addressed. This project will see the long awaited exterior paint programme in Belvedere come to realization with the paintwork of five apartment blocks in Low Estate. For the mobile homes, the doors and windows replacement programmes are also progressing satisfactorily. Tenants in Pendant Cactus Estate made good use of this programme by having a second door installed. Whilst in the area, other points of concern affecting this unique community will also be addressed. Salomons-Brown said the rehabilitation programmes are outputs of cautious operational and financial restructuring. The Foundation was able to start repairs and capital expenditures in December 2016, continuous into 2017, considering that its annual operational budget concedes 20 per cent in capital expenditures and daily repairs. Whilst 60 per cent is earmarked for the reimbursement of its mortgage and object catastrophic insurance, a mere 20 per cent is sanctioned for operations and contingencies. Residents can rest assured that all pending technical issues are being considered and will be addressed accordingly, Salomons-Brown said. “The SMHDF has an interesting history, with 677 repairs as registered since 2000 in one fiscal year. To date this number is steadily decreasing with the repairs as mentioned above, whilst interior repairs continue,”added the General Director.


Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/67774-housing-foundation-to-start-new-home-sales-programme