16 Homes for Rent At Waidamudamu Informal Settlement

Sixteen homes were built only for the purpose of renting them in the Waidamudamu informal settlement, said Minister for Housing and Community Development Premila Kumar.

She said the owners of these houses lived elsewhere and the houses were for financial gain.

“These homes are being rented from $400 to $600 a month. The sole purpose of building these homes was to gain financially,” she said.

“When we think of informal settlements we think of poor people with low income and no place to go.

“In fact, we have found that for some people, informal settlements are an opportunity to accumulate property.”

Waidamudamu is one the first informal settlements which is being developed and leases for these lots would soon be given out.

The Ministry of Housing has done a survey to identify those that would be given Government subsidies and those that would be paying market rates.

Ms Kumar said informal settlers were becoming a big problem to development as people continued to occupy land illegally and build homes.

She said a solution for this would be to have more houses built which were affordable to all.

“We have people coming from villages, the North and the West and they reside in informal settlements in Suva while having properties in their villages,” Ms Kumar said.

She said the Housing Act which would address this issue was now being drafted. She said laws also needed to be made stronger to police the issue of informal developments which included roadside stalls and homes.

Edited by Selita Rabuku

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