The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

ALTHOUGH for years government has threatened to destroy Abaco’s shanty towns, a father of two facing eviction from The Farm fears his family will have nowhere to go before the deadline is up to leave the unregulated community, his home for 20 years. 

The 30-year-old Abaco resident, Enrique, said he had just got off from work when he saw the eviction notice on his door last week, giving him 28 days to pack up and leave.

“Everyone’s worried at the moment,” he told The Tribune yesterday. “They don’t know what they gon’ do. They don’t know what’s their next move.”

“Twenty-eight days is too short. If they had given us a year or so, then that would’ve been okay, but 28 days is not long enough.”

 Enrique said he remembered when only a handful of people lived there.

He said the community grew tremendously after Hurricane Dorian, and he blames the government for letting the situation get out of control.

 “From they saw one house start to build up, they should’ve stopped that immediately,” he said. “They allowed all of these homes to be built in the back of there.” 

 He believes hundreds of shanty town residents could be left homeless if the government follows through on its action, citing a housing shortage on the island.

 “I’ve been looking but there’s just none available,” he said, referring to houses.

 He said a one-bedroom apartment in Abaco costs around $1,000, which is not easy for someone like him, his family’s sole breadwinner.

 Another shanty town resident, who spoke to The Tribune on the condition of anonymity, said people don’t mind renting, but find it difficult getting a place. 

 “Do they have apartment available for people to rent? Do they have that to accommodate the people?” asked the mother of five. “There is no way in four weeks’ time people going to find somewhere to be.”

 The Abaco resident, who works two jobs to cope, said she has already purchased property to build a home, but living in The Farm is a temporary solution until her house is completed. 

 “They feel like we’re just freeloading, but no, we’re there because we’re trying to build our house a proper way,” she said. “A lot of us already start building our house, but we just ain’t finish.”

 The woman, three of whose children are in school, said she is prepared for whatever comes. 

 “I am not going stress myself,” she said. “I am not going to worry. Whatever they say, if they’re going to break, if they’re going to do that, then I’m for it.”

 Buildings control officer Craig Delancy said last week that 95 eviction notices had been posted in a shanty town off SC Bootle Highway.

 The government’s push to demolish shanty towns in Abaco comes after structures in the Kool Acres and All Saints Way shanty towns of New Providence were destroyed.