Gov’t allots $20M to acquire Joe’s Hill Manor
After months of pleading from some critics, the government has now conceded that it will purchase the Joe’s Hill Manor Estate to streamline the acquisition process for first-time homeowners.
During the budget debate, Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley announced that the government plans to allocate $20 million towards acquiring the property from the Social Security Board (SSB).
According to Dr Wheatley, the government intends to sit down with the SSB and funding institutions and arrive at an approach that makes the distribution of homes in the project more equitable and fairly distributed to first-time local homeowners, as intended.
Dr Wheatley suggested that the current process excludes individuals who seek to transition from renting to homeownership but cannot afford the steep prices of homes within the housing project. “What had started to take place was that homes were starting to be sold to persons who are gonna rent those homes out to individuals and that would be a case of the rich getting richer,” the Premier said.
Earlier this year, the government completed its $26 million construction project to facilitate first-time homeowners at Joe’s Hill Manor in what some felt was an affordable housing initiative at the time. However, it was later realised that many of the homes proved unaffordable and thus out of reach of the pockets of applicants and intended beneficiaries.
He argued that the government should now learn from its mistakes and conceded that the programme was not well designed.
“The programme should have sought to qualify persons before we even built those homes,” Dr Wheatley said. “But be that as it may, we cannot sit idly by and watch those homes be sold to persons to rent them to persons. We can’t allow that to happen.”
The Premier promised that his government would sit with intelligent people and make an intervention in the matter.
“I will appoint a committee that will be able to put forward sustainable solutions. And by no stretch of the imagination, will we tolerate anything that would lead to ‘ghettos’,” the Premier stated.
Premier Wheatley assured that this would never happen under his watch and promised that his government would implement a system where persons would be confident that they would be able to meet their financial obligations and become homeowners.
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If the CoI proved anything, it was that shenanigans like this are just hiding people stealing money.
Please spend the money on schools, hospitals and roads! We need this stuff. We don’t need the government to build us overpriced condos.
Better to just let this place rot like all the other scams (the Abatwar, the green house, the VG Comunity center).
Prospect Reef all over again.
I want the Government to build my new house for $1.5m and the sell it to me for $450k
So a $6 million loss on an investment that sits unoccupied for years! Pray tell how did the minister of finance arrive at his offer?
Would SSB executive board approve this loss? What was their intended ROI? Pi$$ poor planning is the result of this monstrosity that is a white elephant. Maybe Vanterpool Group can buy it for th wid new imported staff as housing!
Government run businesses
What a joke
Especially this government. Run by an accidental premier
He’s not accidental anymore. The Long Look Mumu them
Put him in a second time and Lorna jumped ship. So we are stuck with him.
WTF!!!
We don’t have 20M to spend on anything other than infrastructure!! Fix the roads!! Fis water and sewerage systems!! Fix the incinterator!!
SS can afford to carry Joe’s Hill, Government cannot, unless you reduce the Gov employment by 40%, cut all travel, and donate your paycheck!!
We have a 100 million gap in the budget (supported by a non existent loan that the government is desperate to find) and these A$$ C!owns are spending this cash on unsellable and failed project with little prospects of an ROI?
Typical BVI way – Cart……….horse. Oh no, we don’t have any horses!
for affordable housing you need to build flats not homes flats could be built and sold for under $200k even for 2 bedroom units $150k for 1 bedroom units, still not cheap but this is the BVI not down island
Experts in banking and construction advised Government that this project didn’t make sense long before it started, yet it still went ahead. As the BVI public will suffer financially from this folly, it is vital that those who made the decisions to proceed be removed from any future decision-making posts involving public money. This is yet another example of the arrogant “we know best” attitude that pertains in much of the public sector. Until this fundamental attitude changes, there will only be more follies like this one and, yet again, the BVI public will suffer.
No experts did not advise the Government about this matter. Any advice would have been given to the Social Security Board
These ppl are crazy. Does the valuation justify the 20 million paid and if no are they ready for another COI. Sl** Wande needs to provide transparency here
“Government should learn from its mistake “
A hell of a costly mistake, but not your money so why worry.
So it was NOT the Government that designed or exected the project. Any mistakes made were made by the Social Security Board since even before the 2017 hurricanes! It was a noble idea in my view but they picked the wrong location as the terrain made it expensive to build (as must be the case just by the amount of retaining walls alone) and thus expensive for prospective homeowners since the Board is seeking a decent return on investment. Far too much info on that project has been in the public domain over the years that people still do not understand that fact. However, what bothers me by reading these comments is the amount of sheer ignorance. It appears that far too many people do not have a clue about how Government and other state institutions work and interact with each other. That, in my opinion, is a real problem because ignorance of such matters leads to, among other things, poor choices at the ballot box.
Nail hit on the head
So the crooked government ministers are now going to be the ones in charge of allocating? Taking it away from the SSB who were actually following protocol… There is 0 chance they are doing this to help facilitate the purchases for first-time BVIslanders. They are doing this so they can give to who they want…. Corruption at its finest.
Only when we begin to hold folks accountable will we progress.
Can’t wait until January, 2024. If The VIP think they can take people hard earned money paid into Social Security and turn around and steal it, Then think again. The Governor is getting letters daily on all these injustices. You all quick to say UK is our Enemy? Think again. A few more weeks and then everyone will know. NO Street Protest nor Running to Government House will stop what’s coming next time.
Enough is Enough!!! Either New Elections or UK takeover. Becareful what you wish for? I repeat, either New Elections or UK takeover!!!!
I think this is another injustice to the people of this Territory. I hope the UK is watching. You borrowed 26Mil and repaying 20MIL? Where is the justice in this? That is the Peoples’ hard earned money you are stealing and no consequences? H.E. Rankin bring on the COI. We need it. There is still a lot of wrong doings that continue to plague our Territory and only a COI can and will address it. Can’t wait for the next few weeks. If you all think sitting in street and running down to Government House will stop this, Think again. Not this time. Something has to give.
Let the government buy it, then the ministers can sell them cheap to family and friends as rentals.
Win/win all over…Right?
Right from breaking ground a contractor friend said Mrs P or her ilk’s gonna end up with those
Social security loses $6million plus
Taxpayers lose $20million
Houses allocated cheap to cronies
Could there be a worse plan? Yet again BVI workers pay collectively for a chosen few to profit.
Better to admit that the project failed, sell these units to the public generally (including rental purposes) above cost and go back to the drawing board (ie take a look at low income housing in St Thomas)
The only people who benefited from this whole mistake were the general contractor and his friends in the government
You went and leverage our as money to the tune of 26 million. Didn’t do your home work about the return on that investment. Now you taking another 20 million out of the treasury to take over the project directly ?Infrastructure falling , you claim you need upwards of 100 mil in loans just for infrastructure. You can’t even manage the admin offices complex to house your offices and you will take over a residential housing complex? Lord send help. This is madness. Really!!!!
Why are you putting it over as if it was Gov’t that constructed this property. It was SOCIAL SECURITY. The Gov’t wasn’t involved. They are just getting involved now in trying to purchase the FAILED project.
The Government was very much involved. Ask the Drew what happened. Better yet, the current premier was at the table. They know exactly what they did to turn a viable project into the disaster that it currently is!
Help me to understand this please. We have seen 2 and 3 bedroom concrete houses, nice houses built under the Social Housing Assistance Program for 150k – 250k. Why wasnt this approach taken to help folks and start by helping those that may have land but couldnt afford to build? Businesses struggling, schools in shambles, so much mess and 20mil on an ugly eye sore TO DO WHAT REALLY???????
This proves that only the sell out devil worshippes prophet good in this devil Earth. Where is the stolen money,the money for school,roads etc? Why are you people so dumb. Next election day no one should vote. Stop being dumb,you vote these people in every year and they do nothing. You take the money and it still don’t last you for the years their in. This is how I know too many dumb people live in Tortola. Where do the politicians send their kids to school while your kids go to school with mole every day. It’s tax payers which is your money send these politicians kids, grand kids,etc to school in America or UK. Where is your kids money wow. Go back to vote because I vote that all voters are one million percent dumb
You said it best. This will be like another Covid Stunt to families, friends, Cronies and themselves.
I heard long time that some of the Politicians wanted them for themselves. Watch and see.
While seeking to purchase Joes Hill property from SOCIAL SECURITY, the government need to enquire into all the various pieces of land around the country that SOCIAL SECURITY bought with the intention of building affordable housing for first time homeowners. SOCIAL SECURITY paid millions of dollars for these properties and they are just sitting there
I would doubt very much that after how the Joes Hill project turned out, that SOCIAL SECURITY would undertake any future building of any kind.
Another issue is the pieces of land which they bought from owners over on Wickhams Cay (Pier Park) where they were going to build a huge building to house both SOCIAL SECURITY and NHI. Although a couple hundred thousand was also spent on the Plans for that building, the land is now leased to Pier Park as a parking lot.
We are in bales of trouble in the BVI.
You should see where some of these lands that were bought are located.
NDP used to say them jamming.
A man used to come on the radio saying that “them jam in” on a past campaign trail. So what is this set doing? Them jamming or “them jam in”.
Welllll sah, look where the BVI reach.
all yo and those thieving business folk will votes those thieves right back in next time.
Foy build these with the intention of buying them in a smart and tricksy way using one of his guys as a front with that $$$ he was hoping for.Remember that Large donation he got to assist with the high school and to date no one knows who it came from..That’s Foy the man who thinks he so smart and brain so big, and all now he still behaving the same way..
Correct. Perfect vehicle for money laundering. Stuff you see on Netflix.
Sell them house lottery pick styles $200 dolllar buy in 10 thousand slots…pick 4…the. Repeat the process cause only the rich could buy them and going end up renting them…
For that kind of money I want be sneaking in my own house them to close
Sorry, buddy but your maths is off…. $200 x 10,000 = $2MIL
To make that idea viable, you would need a $2,000/ticket x 10,000 issued = $20MIL
The other thing to consider would be what happens if the 10,000 issued are not sold?
A better idea may be to do a similar investment scheme to the Pier Park where investors can buy shares in a managing company for a period of years getting a similar return to what was offered on the Pier Park… even at 4 – 8%, that’s much better than what the banks pay in interest. Then the homes can be either sold, rent-to-own, or long-term leased using the entire development as a commercial enterprise run by a board (NOT central government)
Andrew Fahie, VIP, NDP or no Government built the Joes Hill project. This project was 100% done by the Social Security Board which was independent of the Government. Politicians are now being blamed for what the Social Security Board Members and Executive Team sanctioned and that is not right. The blame needs to fall in the right place. This was NOT a Government project. I still don’t agree that Government should be buying this property. Let SSB figure their way out of the mess.
I wouldn’t take financial advice from a clown nor from a clown dressed in a Santa suit