Gov’t inks contract for Long Look social home
The government has signed a contract for the construction of the Long Look Transitional Facility and Social Complex, a project Premier Natalio Wheatley said will strengthen support for vulnerable people across the Virgin Islands.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Wheatley described the event as “a significant milestone in our ongoing commitment to building a more inclusive, compassionate, and caring Virgin Islands.” He said the facility represents “a reaffirmation of our collective responsibility, as a Government and as a community, to uplift and support those among us who are most vulnerable.”
The new centre will provide temporary housing and social services for people facing homelessness, mental illness, substance abuse, unemployment, or a lack of family support. It will complement the existing Safe Haven Transitional Centre, which Wheatley said has “served as a beacon of hope for many, but its capacity has reached its limits.”
He said the new facility will deliver “structured, time-limited accommodation” along with rehabilitation, reintegration, and employment programmes. “Every person who walks through these doors [will] receive the guidance and opportunity they need to rebuild their lives,” Wheatley stated.
The Premier added that the complex will “serve as a bridge between unsheltered living and full community reintegration, reducing pressure on existing services and strengthening our social safety net.”
It will be jointly managed by the Social Development Department and the Safe Haven Transitional Centre, under the oversight of the Ministry of Health and Social Development.
Wheatley praised Health Minister Vincent Wheatley for his “steadfast leadership and unwavering support in championing this cause,” and congratulated local contractor Dion Crabbe of Island Concrete, who won the bid to build the project. “We look forward to your partnership and anticipate the timely, high-quality, and cost-effective completion of this facility,” he said.
The contract was signed for the amount of $1,722,396.36 and is expected to be completed by December 2026.
The Premier noted that investing in social infrastructure benefits the wider community. “When we invest in the vulnerable, we invest in the future of our Territory,” he stated. “We break cycles of despair and build pathways to independence, dignity, and hope.”<
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Sounds great but I wonder that Joe’s Hill could have been purposed fo this.
lol no
Joe’s Hill is well-occupied.
Guess we have to spend another $45 million with no return then.
Oh well.
Happy to see we helping the needy this time and not the greedy HOA13.
Did this contract go out to tender or friends and family?
You spend money like you have a printery somewhere..Public funds should be administered with due care, scrutiny and diligence. It sounds all rosey and i hope it works out this time.
In the words of Nathalio,
“The new centre will provide temporary housing and social services for people facing homelessness, mental illness, substance abuse, unemployment, or a lack of family support. It will complement the existing Safe Haven Transitional Centre, which has served as a beacon of hope for many, but its capacity has reached its limits.”
But did the people of Long Look ask for this? Many in our community face homelessness, mental illness, and substance abuse not because of a lack of facilities, but because you, the so-called representative, have looked down on them and belittled them since the day you were elected.
Your presence in the district is nonexistent. Every chance you get, you stand in the way of people’s progress — as if keeping them down is part of your mission. We don’t need your pity, and we reject being labeled as “vulnerable.” What we need are real opportunities for employment — not just temporary bush-cutting jobs that insult our intelligence and education.
We want access to proper healthcare. We want genuine representation and respect from our elected official. And since you clearly have no respect for the people you claim to serve, it’s time for you to step aside and let someone else lead.
It’s ironic that you often remind us that Long Look is where slavery was first abolished in this hemisphere — yet you continue to impose your own form of modern-day slavery through neglect and control.
It’s clear election season is near; that’s why you’re suddenly trying to win favor again. But this time, when we vote you out, remember no one is going to hire you again.
And we call on the Governor to ensure that no retirement package is paid to you until you reach the age of 65 — just like every hardworking citizen in this country.
This is huge step in the right direction and it is long overdue. You just have to drive through Long Look and see them hanging around.
The community needs its gym back.
When driving through Long Look one can see due care and some tender loving care is needed in both the East End and Long Look Communities. This is perhaps a step in the right direction if life skills are going to be taught and assistance given towards gainful employment. Seems to me, we are assisting the Phillipines with gainfully employing their citizens while ours sit by the roadsides. And despite what the Premier says, they are no better qualified than our people that we are sidelining. These young people on bikes and sitting on the side of the road has more computer skills than who we import, but Labour is open for business and don’t care whether every business hired from overseas. No quotas, nothing. Some of them are hiring 100% from overseas, but that’s okay with this Government. It is a crisis in the making. Only in the BVI this can happen. We know that.
The money used for the economic zone in Huntumns Ghut could have been used for this, except for the basketball court upgrade as that was needed. We now have a $2 million project there sitting, with empty buildings which has brought nothing economic to the area, no new economy. Wasting taxpayers money, seems to be the VIP’s mantra. They have no clue what the word prioritization means. They need to look it up. History has shown that when Government becomes a landlord, nobody pays their rent. Insanity is also a meaning to look up as making the same mistakes over and over again will bury us and we would then have to say we had so much money and wasted it.