Origami !!!
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10 October, 2007 08:00
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The latest pledge that fails to paper over GSD's dismal record on housing
By Thesaurus
Judging by Housing Minister Clive Beltran's performance on the recent GSD phone-in programme and the rasping questions put to him by members of the public there is no doubt housing will be a major issue in tomorrow's election. The GSD have done nothing in the past four years to alleviate the plight of those waiting, as in the case of a particular caller, over eleven years for a house for his family. Peter Caruana was forced to admit during the last general election victory speech that the issue of housing had become a ‘wake up' call to his party. Gibraltar suddenly became a huge construction site for the building of luxury and expensive buildings for those who could ‘afford' it. Those waiting for government accommodation waited in vain.
Only now, as yet another general election loomed, have the GSD stirred themselves from the slumber and inactivity of the past four years to suddenly announce that 700 new flats are to be built for rental purposes. After three terms of broken electoral promises in respect of housing does the GSD really believe that the electorate is going to fall for their latest electoral gimmick? After eleven years of neglect desperate families have been allocated origami paper houses in an estate that doesn't even exist and, given their track record, may not even see the light of day.
During Beltran's tenure in office the housing waiting list has spiraled out of control. A complicated points system has been imposed that according to Beltran brought order out of the ‘mayhem' that existed under the GSLP. This is a totally surprising if not perplexing statement for the Minister to make, for even the staunchest GSD fanatic has to agree that it was the GSLP who finally broke the housing problem's back with the construction of over 2,000 homes which increased the percentage of private home-ownership from 6% to 36% during their time in government.
On the other hand it is thanks to GSD negligence that waiting lists have once again reared their ugly head. As one caller reminded the Housing Minister, he had been waiting for government accommodation since 1995. Clearly, this is a GSD created Frankenstein re-animated through the neglect and abandon of an administration more concerned with the allocation of prime Gibraltar land to the lucrative property market for short term financial gain rather than any real concern for those Gibraltarians unfortunate enough to be unable to afford the so called ‘affordable' homes offered by Caruana.
It is suddenly now, with the realization that those 700 families could well swing the election in favour of the GSLP that the GSD have finally turned their attention to those who they have deserted and ignored for so long. Each has received a letter indicating that they have now been allocated a flat in an estate yet to be built. It is an origami commitment that is too little too late and that is probably not worth the paper it is written on. During the debate Clive Beltran refused to answer a direct question on when the Housing Allocation Committee had met to allocate the 700 homes it has now promised and what criteria had been used to allocate them. For a Minister who has steadfastly refused to see those on the waiting list so as not to influence the impartiality of the Housing Allocation Committee it appears rather cynical now, that weeks before the election, the committee has been by-passed and letters sent out to all and sundry by the Principal Housing Officer Ron Coram. If the Housing Allocation Committee did meet, then the electorate is entitled to know when this happened and how ‘successful' applicants were selected. This cannot have happened in a single day. It would be the height of political hypocrisy notwithstanding a purely cynical and blatant bribe for Mr. Beltran to now over-ride his own rules and procedures in an attempt to get himself, and his wavering party re-elected into power. It is yet another example of a bitter pill with a sweet coating that the GSD expect people to once again swallow without question.
The GSD have a lot to answer for. They have become the masters of deception, of promises and pledges they have little or no intention of ever keeping. It is a government that reacts rather than takes initiative. It attempts to take credit for solving crises of its own creation. They often do too little too late, and still, as they endeavor to remain in office for a fourth consecutive term, they have still to lay a real brick or fulfill any of their past electoral pledges on housing. People need real houses, of brick and mortar, not of paper Mr. Beltran!
Years of neglect
Only now, as yet another general election loomed, have the GSD stirred themselves from the slumber and inactivity of the past four years to suddenly announce that 700 new flats are to be built for rental purposes. After three terms of broken electoral promises in respect of housing does the GSD really believe that the electorate is going to fall for their latest electoral gimmick? After eleven years of neglect desperate families have been allocated origami paper houses in an estate that doesn't even exist and, given their track record, may not even see the light of day.
Frankenstein Re-Animated
During Beltran's tenure in office the housing waiting list has spiraled out of control. A complicated points system has been imposed that according to Beltran brought order out of the ‘mayhem' that existed under the GSLP. This is a totally surprising if not perplexing statement for the Minister to make, for even the staunchest GSD fanatic has to agree that it was the GSLP who finally broke the housing problem's back with the construction of over 2,000 homes which increased the percentage of private home-ownership from 6% to 36% during their time in government.
On the other hand it is thanks to GSD negligence that waiting lists have once again reared their ugly head. As one caller reminded the Housing Minister, he had been waiting for government accommodation since 1995. Clearly, this is a GSD created Frankenstein re-animated through the neglect and abandon of an administration more concerned with the allocation of prime Gibraltar land to the lucrative property market for short term financial gain rather than any real concern for those Gibraltarians unfortunate enough to be unable to afford the so called ‘affordable' homes offered by Caruana.
Pill with a sweet coating
It is suddenly now, with the realization that those 700 families could well swing the election in favour of the GSLP that the GSD have finally turned their attention to those who they have deserted and ignored for so long. Each has received a letter indicating that they have now been allocated a flat in an estate yet to be built. It is an origami commitment that is too little too late and that is probably not worth the paper it is written on. During the debate Clive Beltran refused to answer a direct question on when the Housing Allocation Committee had met to allocate the 700 homes it has now promised and what criteria had been used to allocate them. For a Minister who has steadfastly refused to see those on the waiting list so as not to influence the impartiality of the Housing Allocation Committee it appears rather cynical now, that weeks before the election, the committee has been by-passed and letters sent out to all and sundry by the Principal Housing Officer Ron Coram. If the Housing Allocation Committee did meet, then the electorate is entitled to know when this happened and how ‘successful' applicants were selected. This cannot have happened in a single day. It would be the height of political hypocrisy notwithstanding a purely cynical and blatant bribe for Mr. Beltran to now over-ride his own rules and procedures in an attempt to get himself, and his wavering party re-elected into power. It is yet another example of a bitter pill with a sweet coating that the GSD expect people to once again swallow without question.
Too Little, too Late
The GSD have a lot to answer for. They have become the masters of deception, of promises and pledges they have little or no intention of ever keeping. It is a government that reacts rather than takes initiative. It attempts to take credit for solving crises of its own creation. They often do too little too late, and still, as they endeavor to remain in office for a fourth consecutive term, they have still to lay a real brick or fulfill any of their past electoral pledges on housing. People need real houses, of brick and mortar, not of paper Mr. Beltran!
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