Government must make housing priority number 1

The leader of the NDP faction in Parliament, MP Andre Misiekaba, on Thursday urged the government to make housing its highest priority. “It is not possible to organize your life when you do not have a roof over your head,” said MP Misiekaba who told other legislators that desperate citizens express their concerns to him every day. “They can’t make ends meet because of the high rent that they have to pay for houses that will never become theirs.” MP Misiekaba pointed out that the government must show more decisiveness with its housing policy. “The important thing to people who pay rent is knowing that it will one day become their property. Housing is the number 1 problem in Suriname.” 1,800 houses have been built since the Bouterse administration came into office 7 years ago. According to the Ministry of Social Affairs and Housing (Sozavo), close to 20,000 people need housing. “It is just a drop in the ocean.” If it were up to MP Misiekaba, the government would formulate a policy aimed at constructing at least 5,000 houses. The legislator from the ruling coalition pointed out that speeding up the pace of the construction of homes in association with the private sector will cause a spin-off effect. Those who need homes will get a roof over their head and entrepreneurs will have their hands full. The government that lifts the housing shortage will also be rewarded politically.