Former Housing and Water Minister and opposition parliamentarian, Annette Ferguson is urging the government to consider implementing her party’s “rent-to-own” housing initiative.
The legislator said that the programme will alleviate the frustration of those who are renting homes.
She made the impassioned plea during her 2025 budget presentation on Wednesday night.
“Mr. Speaker, I strongly advocate for the Opposition’s proposal for a ‘rent to own policy’ as a promising solution to the housing crisis currently impacting around 30,000 Guyanese who are still burdened by rent payments,” she said.
Describing it as an “innovative approach”, Ferguson urged the government to not be dismissive of its potential.
“Rather than dismissing this innovative approach, I urge Housing and Water Minister, Susan Rodrigues and her colleagues to embrace the potential of this initiative. By adapting the proposal and launching a pilot test, we can effectively evaluate its feasibility and uncover a path toward homeownership for countless families in need. Let us seize this opportunity to make a tangible difference in the lives of our citizens,” she stressed.
The rent-to-own scheme was first floated by the Leader of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), Aubrey Norton in mid-2023.
Back then, he professed to have found the solution aimed at enhancing citizens’ ability to acquire homes. According to the Guyanese leader, this measure has the potential to significantly increase the number of families obtaining suitable homes, all while relieving them of the challenges associated with engaging financial institutions.
This programme, he has explained, is part of the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU)’s “Poverty Reduction Strategy”, which it hopes to execute if the electorate decides to return the party to power this year.
He was quoted by this publication on June 2, 2023, as saying: “What we recommend is that government builds houses and people pay rent, but that rent is going as if it is a mortgage. And so, you set the final cost for the house and when they (citizens) finish paying that, the house belongs to that person”.
