A DISPUTE between the Urban Development Commission (UDC)?and a man over the ownership of a house has led to a mother and her four children being evicted from the house.
Since Saturday, Nadia Marshall has been sleeping on the floor at relative and friends with her small children, ages 8, 7, 5 and 3, because she has nowhere to go.
And she is fearful that the situation could send three of her children who are chronic asthmatics into a health dilemma.
Choking back tears, the 32-year-old mother explained that she had been renting the two-bedroom wooden house at Rendezvous, Christ Church, for three years from a man who also lived in the area.
“One day I was at home and a jeep with three men pulled up outside the house and they came to me and asked what I was doing in the house. I said to them that I was renting it and I?lived there with my four children . . . . they said to me that the house belonged to the Urban Development Commission and that I had no right to be living there and that I?need to leave the house.
“I?showed them my four children who were inside and told them that I had nowhere to go. One of them said to me that they could not put out me and the children, so stay
in the house until they could get the matter sorted out, but do not pay the landlord any more money”.
However, things took a turn for the worse when the landlord failed on several occasions to make the water and light payments, which were included in the rent.
“The water and light were constantly being disconnected because the landlord was not paying the bills. Almost every month after giving him the rent I would have to turn around and pay the reconnection fee and money owed on the bill . . . .
So one day I told him that since he was not paying the utilities I would pay him $600 rent and use the remainder of the money to pay the utilities and he told me, “No way”.
“I could not take it any more, so I went to the UDC and explained the situation to them and they told me not to pay the landlord any more rent, that the house belonged to them and they gave me a letter to take to Light & Power to get the light turned over in my name. After I?did that, the landlord came to me very upset and angry and told me that I?was trying to get the UDC?to take his house from him and that he was evicting me.”
Shortly after that, she received a letter from the landlord’s attorney ordering her to quit the house.
“I went to the UDC crying from the house which they told me they owned and that I?had nowhere to go.”
She stated that after going there for a few days, with no assistance forthcoming, officials at the UDC?finally held a meeting with her. “They told me that they regret what had happened but that the property was not owned by the UDC and they could not assist me any further.”
It was then that she moved out of the house.
“Me and my children have been sleeping on the floors at friends’ houses. On Tuesday night I?cried so bad because my five-year-old and my three-year-old daughters started crying and telling me that they did not want to sleep on the floor, so I?had to let the two of them sleep on top of me.”
Marshall, a hairdresser, said she had been very unlucky when it comes to housing.
“I?was living in Kendall Hill, Christ Church, on a spot of land for six years, and the landlord told me that I?was squatting and I?had to get off the land. Then a friend of mine that I was living at suggested that I?build a house on his land next-door to his house. I?took up all of my savings and bought material and two young boys from the neighbourhood were helping me build the house and I?ran out of money and could not go any further. Then one of the boys died.
“I?wrote a letter to Dear Christine five years ago when I was pregnant with my second last child asking for help to finish the house, and people were responding criticizing me for having so many children and telling me that I wanted condoms, not a house, so I decided I was done with that.”
“I?know I?have made mistakes in my life, but I?love my children and I am not going around begging for people to look after them. All I?need is a push up and I?can look after myself. Every cent I?get from doing hair I?spend on my children to make them happy.” She pointed out that the father of three of the children presently lived in St Vincent but sent her child support.
“I?just need a place so that my children can be comfortable. When I was staying in a shed at my aunt’s house, my five year-old daughter was in and out of the hospital with asthma attacks and my son was acting up at school.
“When I went to the school, the teachers told me that he said that I was always crying and that was why he was acting up. I?did not even know that he was watching me when I was crying. All I?need is a little push and I?can make it,” she cried, as she asked for help in completing the house that she started to build five years ago.
I went searching for the landlord to get his side of the story, but was unable to locate him.
However, when we contacted the UDC, a senior official explained that the corporation?had carried out extensive repairs on the house which Marshall was renting.
“We have concluded that the house is not ours and that it really belongs to the landlord,” he stated, requesting anonymity as he is not authorized to speak to the media.
Meanwhile, Barbados Labour Party candidate for Christ Church West Central, Margo Callender, has put together a team of volunteers, including carpenters, and will be trying to complete Marshall’s house for her.
“She reached out to me and told me that she was unable to get any help from the UDC or the Minister of Housing. She has been living at the mercy of other people and she has four young children. On Saturday morning we will clean up the house and I will also try to get persons living in the community to donate building material so that we can complete it,” Callender said.
