The St. Vincent government has announced plans to build townhouses specifically designed for young professionals.
The brainchild of Finance Minister Camillo Gonsalves, this initiative is the next phase of the government’s housing revolution, which initially focused on providing homes for those affected by natural hazards.
According to Gonsalves, the townhouses will feature a unique local design, where the bottom floor will be a single-storey, one- or two-bedroom facility, and the top two floors will boast a larger townhouse with three bedrooms and a study.
As Gonsalves explained, “We had this conversation last year, and they’ve been refining and going back and forth over a plan to have condominium and townhouse-style housing for young professionals in different locations around St. Vincent and the Grenadines.”
Gonsalves says he has been working with the Bank of St. Vincent and the Grenadines (BoSVG) to develop packages that will make these houses very affordable to young professionals. “The bank will amalgamate any loans that the applicant makes, we have set an aggressive price point,” he revealed.
The first two phases of the project will see 128 units being constructed, and Gonsalves is confident that the government will find a way to make the townhouses accessible to first-time homeowners.
As Gonsalves noted, “We’re talking about on the Leeward Coast; we’re talking about in the suburbs, not in Kingstown proper but in areas that ring Kingstown where we found land, where in the past, you would say, well, they could only put on five houses here, or something, or six houses.”
Gonsalves emphasized that some of the land at the decommissioned E.T Joshua airport will be used for mixed use of commercial and residential use as well. The minister was speaking on Star Radio when he made the announcement.
