Housing Minister Says Government Eyeing Rent-to-Own Program Expansion

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NASSAU, BAHAMAS – Minister of Housing and Urban Development Keith Bell says it has received over 12,000 applications.

And that number comes as no surprise, as the country’s housing shortage has been decades in the making.

A national study as far back as 1984 found New Providence alone needed more than seventeen hundred new homes each year.

Housing Minister Keith Bell, who recently presented those figures to Parliament, says by 2016 the Inter-American Development Bank estimated the country needed about three thousand six hundred new homes or major repairs annually.

But for years, construction simply did not keep up.

And with thousands of Bahamians still on waiting lists for housing, Bell says rent-to-own is one way government plans to relieve that pressure.

Rent-to-Own Construction Progress

Keith Bell, Minister of Housing and Urban Development

“Our rent-to-own buildings are well on their way to final construction. And so we hope, uh, God’s life during the course of this year, uh, to put at least the buildings up to twelve families. There are eight units, and we hope to put at least ninety-six families in those units.”

Bell was speaking with reporters on Moore’s Island Friday on the sidelines of a land conveyance ceremony, where hundreds of residents received long-awaited deeds to their land.

But with more than twelve thousand applications still on file for government’s rent-to-own program, the question is how quickly that program can be expanded and how it will be paid for.

Financing and Expansion Plans

Keith Bell, Minister of Housing and Urban Development

“We have met with the Ministry of Finance and the honorable Prime Minister, and we have also met with the Inter-American Development Bank, who we anticipate is going to give us a very substantial loan during the course of this year, for which we’ll be able to build a few thousand homes.”

With financing talks underway and construction plans expanding, the next question for government will be timelines and how many families ultimately move from waiting to ownership.