This morning on CNC3’s the Morning Brew Hema Ramkissoon spoke with Afra Raymond about HDC. Mr Raymond said the plan under the National Housing Authority which was developed in 2002 was to build 100,000 homes in 10 years, he said the HDC has built approximately 12,000 homes. This is from 2003-2015. Video courtesy CNC3
Programme Date: 7 August 2018
Programme length: 00:18:34
AfraRaymond.net 
Afra, how does the proposed amounts mentioned by the PM to allocate 9 billion dollars towards the construction of 10,000 homes, compare to the COST of the homes built by NHA/HDC from 2002-2015? Considering those costs, and the justification for the same, is the re-engineering of the projected $900,000 per home in the future really feasible?
Hello Camille,
The data we have is not sufficiently detailed to allow a reliable comparison of out-turn costs over that period, other than in the broadest sense. Estimates which are that broad, especially over a 15-year time-span, are too easily discredited.
While it is possible to say the average cost new home in the latest HDC program announced by the PM is $900,000, it is not possible to compare with the output since 2003, since we do not know what mix of units were built (size, facilities, # of stories etc). But there is another limitation to the numbers we have in terms of units built and monies spent, since we do not know what part of that money spent has been dedicated to homes which were completed and what part was spent on homes which remain incomplete. Without knowing that detail, it is impossible to estimate even a cost per unit.
There are good reasons to say that the HDC’s outlook and practices are in fact against its own policies since new homes at an $900,000 average cost can hardly serve the poorest applicants. What is more is that homes costing less than $400,000 are regularly built in this country, just not by the HDC…the question is why.