Homes in deplorable conditions.
PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of VROMI in response to questions posed by SMN News regarding the St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation (SMHDF) especially since one home-owner brought her plight to SMN News regarding a new home she purchased and the condition in which the home was given to her.
Minister Emmanuel said that since that article was published on SMN News several other homeowners and tenants have been approaching his Ministry with complaints. He said the homeowner in question is not the only one that suffers at the hands of SMHDF. Minister Emmanuel explained that there are four homes in the area and all of them have cracked walls which he described as poor construction.
He said just the other day another homeowner approached his office showing him where he had to break out about 4 meters from his wall and repaired it at his own expense. As for Ms. Johnson Jack a mother of two minor children the Minister said the family simply cannot live in the home because his technical workers informed him that the home is not livable.
As for SMHDF is fundamentally wrong on how the SMHDF is being managed. He said the first case was that of an 89 year who visited his office. He made clear that he has nothing personal against the board but the way they managed the foundation is beyond expectations. He said that he is still working on getting the board members to respectfully resign since the main objective is to get the foundation up and running in the interest of the tenants and homeowners. Minister Emmanuel said that he is being blamed for not signing off on funding for SMHDF but just recently the foundation sent out a release to say they will begin renovations.
SMN News published various articles before where it states that the SMHDF is not maintaining the homes and the Belvedere community. The street lights in the area are not working while no landscaping have been done.
