NHC issue

BOTH the Housing Corporation minister and managing director indicated in the media recently that they will be issuing rental arrears notices to defaulting tenants of NHC-owned houses.
For the benefit of the minister and the managing director, they should be equally made aware that most of the tenants have stopped paying their rent for good and valid reasons.
One of the main reasons is the total neglect by the NHC to carry out routine maintenance or refurbishment to the totally rundown houses.
Some of these houses are no longer safe and raise safety and health concerns.
This is due to lack of adequate maintenance, although the occupying tenants had continued to request for same from NHC.
Some of the occupying tenants had even gone to the extent of refurbishing or maintaining the houses at their own costs because of direct neglect by the NHC.
Although the current rental for these NHC houses are fairly low, to be able assist in the maintenance requirements, NHC as a corporate State institution should be able to seek Government funding for such requirements.
Rentals issues aside, I wish to again reiterate my earlier request to both the Minister and MD, through this column, the need for houses within Salamander, Lae, to be formally declared for the current occupying tenants to acquire them under the NEC’s sanctioned government home ownership sales schemes.
The occupying tenants here have been denied their opportunity to buy and own these houses for too long, owing to the lack of implementation of NEC’s policy decisions and directives by the NHC.
One of the core functions of the NHC is to “provide adequate and suitable housing by way of sale or lease to the current occupying tenants”.
There needs to be some due fairness from both minister and MD to ensure NHC, as part of its obligations as a State Institution, takes necessary actions to enable sitting tenants here the opportunity to buy off these houses.
The occupying tenants are current and former public servants, some of whom have died, with their spouses and children still occupying the houses.
While other sitting tenants in other parts of the country have benefited from these house-ownership schemes, the sitting tenants here have been totally neglected and denied the same opportunity.
I would kindly suggest that the MD properly brief the minister on the historical Salamander Street housing issues.
I hope I am preaching to the converted.

Lawrence Billy
Hospital Hill
Lae