Housing minister admits unskilled workers responsible for shoddy construction, but says training is now available to them

Unskilled workers employed with the National Housing corporation
are being blamed for the length of time it takes to complete a house,
as well as for poor construction work – about which some
homeowners have complained.
 
During the discussion of the Appropriations Bill, 2024, the minister
responsible for housing, MP Maria Browne, admitted that the
corporation faces some challenges and there is a need for more
skilled workers at the government entity.
 
As it relates to construction and, in particular, the finishing process,
Browne says the corporation is finding it very difficult to fill the
demand for skilled labour and to meet the expectations of its
customers.

And while the current workforce at National Housing is very large,
many of its employees lack the skills required to undertake the top-
notch work the Government expects.
 
Browne says the lack of these skills usually causes the construction
period to be lengthened and the finishing, at times, is shoddy.
 
Accordingly, the minister says that the newly completed Harrison
Centre (formerly the Antigua and Barbuda Institute of Continuing
Studies) has advertised training courses in several areas of
construction: masonry, plumbing and electrical.
 
The hope is that a large percentage of the corporation’s workers, as
well as residents in the various communities, will take up the offer
to become qualified.
 
She says the courses are free, as the Government has decided to
cover the cost for those seeking to upgrade their skills, since
qualified workers will help to meet the demand for homes and
improve the ministry’s output.
 
According to the housing minister, if the required skill sets cannot
be found locally, then it will become necessary to import labour,
which is not the remedy the Government would prefer.
 
Therefore, she is urging construction workers to take up the courses
and become better skilled and more marketable.
 
Residents weighing in on Browne’s remarks say this situation is the
result of poor planning and shortsightedness.

How does the Government expect to get top-class work when many
of the persons employed with National Housing were given “election
jobs” – whether they knew anything about construction or not, one
woman asks.
 
She describes the Administration as “a real clown show” that is now
seeking to blame the workers – whom they knew from the onset
were not qualified – in order to excuse the shoddy construction
work the corporation has put out.