Dominica government prepares to hand over 73 disaster resistant homes to families

The Government of Dominica has been providing sustainable and climate resilient housing to its citizens as a means of tackling the effects of natural disasters on the nation. The initiative which has been dubbed the ‘Housing Recovery Project’ has provided homes to many families in need, often in cases where their houses were destroyed by Hurricane activity.

In a recent post on Facebook, Melissa Skerrit, Dominica’s Minister of Housing and Urban Development, announced that 73 families will be given climate-resilient houses before Christmas. This will not only help them move into their own homes before the holidays, but also act a gift to them from the nation.

The news has been received extremely well by the public, which has always been appreciative of the programme that is a collaborative effort with the World Bank.

According to Melissa Skerrit, the programme aims to take citizens who are residing in wooden homes and give them comfortable and secure houses made of concrete. These houses are built with climate and disaster resilience in mind and have the ability to with stand the harsh weather conditions that Dominica is often subjected to.

Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has also been closely involved with this initiative since the very beginning. He has been instrumental in boosting this project following Tropical Storm Erika (2015) and Hurricane Maria (2017) which affected the housing market in Dominica significantly.

The project has been responsible for handing over many houses previously and has the overarching aim of handing over concrete, climate resilient houses to the 676 families affected by disasters in the past.

For the families 73 families that will be receiving these homes, this is a momentous occasion. At a societal level, this programme has been very important for the nation. This is because housing issues have been a major problem for the nation since 2006.

Thankfully, this was an issue that was recognized by the Prime Minister who made sure that the situation could be remedied by focusing on new housing projects.