Katherine Forbes-Smith, Managing Director, Bahamas Disaster Reconstruction Authority, addressing residents at a town hall meeting hosted by the Authority at the Bahamas Union of Teachers Hall, Freeport, Grand Bahama on January 30, 2020. (Patrick Hanna/BIS)
#FREEPORT – February 3, 2020 —- The Government’s Small Home Repair Programme, through which Bahamian homeowners in Hurricane Dorian-impacted areas could receive thousands of dollars in vouchers, will launch on February 10.
Katherine
Forbes-Smith, Managing Director of the Bahamas Disaster Reconstruction
Authority, made the announcement Thursday, January 30 at a town hall meeting
for the East Grand Bahama District at the Bahamas Union of Teachers Hall in
Freeport.
There
will be four categories for which vouchers will be granted. Residents whose
homes were assessed with minimal damage will be eligible for $2,500 in
vouchers; those with medium damage will be eligible for $5,000 in vouchers;
those with major damage will be eligible for $7,500 in vouchers; and those
whose homes were destroyed will be eligible for $10,000 in vouchers.
Those who receive vouchers will be able to use them for home
improvement materials, labour or a combination of both.
There will be online registration for the programme. There will
also be in-person, sign-up locations for those unable to register online.
In Grand Bahama the in-person registration site will be at the Small
Home Repair Programme office at the Office of the Prime Minister. In Abaco it
will be at the administration complex in Marsh Harbour.
To
qualify for the programme a person needs to be Bahamian; to own the property in
question; there must be proof of residence at August 31, 2019; and the property
would need to have been uninsured.
Under
the programme, tradesmen used for repairs would have to be approved. Materials
purchased with vouchers would have to be from approved vendors in The Bahamas.
“We
have to keep the money in the country,” said Mrs. Forbes-Smith. “We need to
support the small businesses so they can keep people employed.”
The
Authority will disburse 50 percent of the voucher first. An inspector will then
check and ensure the voucher was spent on the home. Once that is verified the
remaining 50 percent would be disbursed.
The Authority has also partnered with various NGOs in
Dorian-impacted communities. Through the partnerships the Government pays for home
repair labour and the NGOs provide supplies and various types of logistical and
technical assistance.
Peter Turnquest, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance and
East Grand Bahama MP, pledged the Government’s commitment to assisting those
affected by Dorian.
Noting that repairs are ongoing, Mr. Turnquest said the
Government allocated $3 million for renovations to Rand Memorial Hospital in
the supplemental budget it presented Wednesday to the House of Assembly. The
Rand was damaged by Dorian.
Also in the supplemental budget, he said, was funding to extend
unemployment benefits from 13 weeks to 26 weeks.
Mr.
Turnquest said: “And that is to ensure that those persons who would have lost
their income as a result of the damages done to businesses, and those that may
have closed, those who were laid off for lack of business, that there is some
social support for those families while they transition to other opportunities
or their place of employment comes back on stream.”
The
Authority will continue hosting town hall meetings in communities affected by
Hurricane Dorian over the next few weeks.
Hurricane
Dorian hit Abaco and Grand Bahama in September. With maximum sustained winds of
185 miles per hour, Dorian was the strongest storm to hit The Bahamas.