Ministry wants your input on new Public and Affordable Housing policy

Eric Bush, Chief Officer in the Ministry of Planning, Agriculture, Housing, Infrastructure, Transport & Development (PAHITD), spoke with Ralph Lewis recently in the latest edition of Cayman Conversations on why they need input from the community on how to solve Cayman’s housing crisis.

In the middle of March, the Ministry of PAHITD launched a public survey to gather valuable insights to inform the development of the Public and Affordable Housing Policy & Ten-Year Strategic Plan. The survey covers a wide range of topics, including demographic information, current housing status, affordability concerns, housing preferences, strategies for housing creation, and the vision for the future of housing policies in the Cayman Islands.

 Mr Bush thanked all who completed the survey and strongly encouraged those who haven’t to do so before the survey ends, as the feedback received will help to shape the community’s housing future.

Thee government had decided to take a strategic look at housing in the Cayman Islands when, historically, government had allowed this to be serviced organically or by the private sector, he advised.

“But as Cayman’s population continues to grow at the pace that it is, it is seen that we now need to be more considerate and take more direct action in terms of providing and or facilitating public housing for those who cannot afford housing for themselves,” Mr Bush acknowledged.

Affordable or attainable housing is needed for Caymanians young and old, he said, because this was not a matter affecting any particular age bracket.

“We’re talking about economics, were talking about one of the primal needs of all individuals and that is shelter,” Mr Bush said.

The Ministry of PAHITD, in partnership with the consulting agency (Public Works LLC), launched the public consultation period whereby they are asking all members of the public to give them their ideas and solutions about how they believe Cayman should progress in terms of providing housing and shelter for Caymanians and all residents.

Mr Bush acknowledged that so far, they had seen “some” feedback from the public, but were hoping for more, and were hoping for feedback from a good representation of the population.

“We cannot do this without the community involvement,” he confirmed. “We will not be able to find the solutions in totality unless we have a good representation of all three islands.”

Mr Bush talked about the Caymanian dream of owning a piece of the “Rock” but said that with the associated costs of home ownership, the reality might be something other than a piece of land on which to build a single dwelling. People will instead have to think about options such as density and shared living spaces in the form of condominiums as a way of offsetting home ownership costs such as insurance, electricity and maintenance.

“If it’s a multi-unit development, all of these costs are shared. You start to get the economies of scale of insurance, of cooling, of the building itself. This crunch/crisis is more of an economic crisis because it is talking about the actual affordability and attainability of the housing,” he said.

Mr Bush said they would like to hear from everyone, including Expats and work permit holders as these housing issues also extend to them.

As a token of appreciation for participating in the survey, respondents will have the opportunity to enter a drawing for gift cards, with names kept separate from survey responses, to ensure confidentiality. You may find the survey link on www.CIHousingPlan.org  as well as the Ministry’s website at www.gov.ky/PAHI/ , and on social platforms: Facebook: PAHIcayman Instagram: @PAHIcayman Twitter: @MinistryPahi Tiktok:@ministry.pahitd