Survey shows some families in squatter settlements earn above $30K

Collective income for some families in squatter settlements in Suva are way above $30,000, a socio-economic survey by the Ministry of Housing has revealed.

Minister for Housing Premila Kumar said the ministry undertook the survey to investigate and find the real situation on the ground in informal settlements.

“In our socio-economic survey of an informal settlement in Nabua, we found that a family had a collective income of more than $100,000. Now this is much more than the collective income of $30,000 per household which would lead us to believe that the family was living in poverty,” she said.

Ms Kumar said the survey was important to identify who in the informal housing settlements were truly in need of assistance from the Government.

The ministry also carried out a similar survey in the Public Rental Board in Raiwai and found that many tenants had incomes that exceeded the threshold required to get tenancy.

The Public Rental Board issued eviction notices to some families. “Now we know who the families are, how long have they been living there, what is the income of the whole household and in some cases, new tenancy agreements have been arranged,” Ms Kumar said.

“And now we have got COVID-19 and with COVID-19, we have had a huge setback. This means we have to go back and do another socio-economic survey to establish whether, tenants are unemployed, what is the household income now. “And based on this new information, we then have to give new notices.”

With no confirmed end to COVID-19 impacts, the ministry will start the survey after July.

Pictured: Photo: Ronald Kumar Once again, flood waters rushed into Waidamudamu as it rained around the country. Housing Minister Premila Kumar said the area would undergo flood mitigation work. “Waidamudamu is one of the areas that need to ensure that we put a stop to this.” Settlement resident Sajnesh Prasad wades through water after heavy rain resulted in flooding of the area a second time this week.