Francine Black and Dionne Rose, Staff Reporters

These children play with clothes that residents claim were left by the Lions Club of Old Harbour for victims of Hurricane Dean, yesterday. Since the hurricane, several residents of Old Harbour Bay, St. Catherine, have been staying in the incomplete houses in Bourkesfield. The houses were built for victims of Hurricane Ivan. - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer

Incomplete houses built for victims of Hurricane Ivan by the Venezuelan Government in Old Harbour Bay, St. Catherine, have now been taken over by victims of Hurricane Dean who say they had nowhere else to go.

The 75 houses are now being occupied by several residents, all of whom said their homes were destroyed in the hurricane. All are willing to leave, but want somewhere else to go.

"If dem tek wi out, we will leave cause wi know wi not suppose to be here, but where wi a go go?" asked Lilly Daley, a resident. "If mi did have house fi go back to mi woulda go back, but wi nuh have nowhere fi go."

However, Everald Warmington, Jamaica Labour Party candidate for the constituency in which the Old Harbour Bay division falls, wants persons who have taken up occupancy in the houses to be removed.

"I have never encouraged capture or squatting and my position is that, as soon as the National Housing Development Corporation (NHDC) is ready, just throw them out!" he said.

"Nobody gave them permission to go inside there so I don't want anybody to say they have nowhere to go. Throw them out! There is a process, they must follow the process and obey the law."

Houses left unoccupied

Mr. Warmington told The Gleaner that the houses were left unoccupied by the government after they were partially completed by the Venezuelan soldiers. He said the houses were taken over by the NHDC, which was in the process of completing the structures.

"The Government ran out of money since August last year and nothing has been done since then," he said. "The roads have not been completed, the sewage system has not been completed, no water is connected, and no electrical work has been done. So they have a good way to go."

The JLP candidate said that, on several occasions, he had made representation to Parliament and to the Government to have the houses completed. He said many of the units were vandalised as far back as August of last year.

He said the NHDC had visited the area a week before Hurricane Dean, but nothing was done with regard to completing the houses.

Attempts made to get a response from the NHDC, yesterday, were futile.