The Right to Adequate Housing

#TurksandCaicos, November 3, 2021 – A joint approach to changing the Crown Land Policy is coming and it could end the scramble for vacant lots for home and other developments; the Turks and Caicos and the UK will work together to make the process more fair to islanders.

Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands, Hon. Washington Misick announced plans are advancing for land reform and housing development for citizens across the islands.

Speaking at a recent press conference, he said people are anxious to obtain Crown land, to be able to build houses, and “not having to stick their hands in a garbage bag and take out a number.”

“The terms of reference are being developed for the appointment of two consultants, one by the Turks and Caicos Islands Government, and the other by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, to fine tune the work that has already been done, but also to take a very holistic view, a very practical view as to how Crown land is to be handled in the future,” he told the conference.

While noting that “things are progressing nicely,” the Premier said the Government has achieved agreement that the current system is unworkable, and the administration is in the process to have a “comprehensive plan for” reform, he said.

The Premier also said a housing department has been set up in the Ministry of Physical Planning and Infrastructure, and it is making “tremendous strides,” with the Government focus on building communities.

“I want to be able to deliver keys to people, complete communities, than a piece of dirt, and that is going to require partnership with the private sector, and potential homeowners, financial institutions, to make sure that we all come together and provide housing,” he said.

He further added that the housing plan was clearly laid out in his party manifesto “that we are not about giving people a piece of dirt without roads, without water, without electricity and without cable,” instead, communities, as “everyone in this country who have a legal right to be here, deserves adequate housing.”

At this time there is a near 5-year moratorium on the issuance of Crown Land in the Turks and Caicos Islands.