The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

URBAN Renewal Minister Lisa Rahming said at least four homes in New Providence still rely on outdoor toilets and three have no running water, as her ministry prepares to expand its home repair programme to bathroom renovations and modifications for people living with disabilities.

One of the residents identified for help is a 78-year-old woman in Nassau Village who has been living without running water. Because her home needs so much work, the project has required extra planning and coordination, and work is not expected to begin until January 2027.

Also identified is a single mother in Centreville who is caring for a child with a disability but cannot afford the repairs needed to make their home safe and comfortable.

The ministry will continue roof repairs and other essential work alongside the expansion.

For some families, help has already arrived. Latrell King, 36, said a wheelchair-accessible ramp built at her family’s home has changed daily life for her 17-year-old son, Kilano Capron, who has cerebral palsy after being struck in a hit-and-run accident when he was six weeks old. Kilano cannot walk or speak independently and relies on his family for his daily care.

For years, Ms King said, she, her mother, her husband and her 13-year-old son physically carried Kilano between the house and the car, sometimes through grass and rain.

“We never thought to think about the weight of it all, and we never even thought to ask for help,” she said.

The Tall Pines Urban Renewal office had called her mother to ask whether the family needed a wheelchair-accessible ramp. Weeks after that call, Ms King wrote about it on Facebook.

“I know some people may say it’s just a ramp. It’s just a ramp. No, it isn’t. It is representation of relief. It is a representation of compassion,” she said. “It is a consideration that is the highest form of love.”

Holding back tears, Ms King recalled being told, as a young mother, that her infant son might not survive another 48 hours. She said raising him had been a hard road, and she credited her mother and family with helping her keep going.

“I worked various careers from bartendering to the number house to now government, and it was a journey. It was not easy,” she said.

She said she had grown so used to caring for her son that she never thought to ask for assistance. She felt everyone had their own cross to bear, and she leaned on her mother, her husband and her wider family instead.

“I became conditioned. I became stronger. I became more resilient,” she said.

Meanwhile, Grenville Brown, 66, said the ramp installed at his home three to four weeks ago has made a big difference since a stroke about a year ago weakened one side of his body. He lives with his wife.

“It affects my side, whole side. I can’t get around like I used to, but I still manage,” Mr Brown said. “But the wheelchair ramp is a plus. It’s a big thing in my life.”

Garvin McIntosh’s family had its roof repaired about two to two-and-a-half months ago, after lightning struck a neighbour’s tree and sent it crashing onto the family home of 40 years, where he lives with his brother and niece.

“The tree fell on my roof, and boy, no insurance. It was hard,” he said.

Mosquitoes came in through the holes in the roof.

“Mosquitoes especially coming in through the little holes. It was a lot,” Mr McIntosh said.

The repairs took about three to three-and-a-half weeks.

The ministry’s Special Projects Unit has built about 40 wheelchair-accessible ramps, with another 30 under way in New Providence, at a cost of $124,000 so far. Mrs Rahming said no new contracts would be signed after December 5 for the 2026 programme.

The ministry’s November 4 report to the House of Assembly listed 41 homes in New Providence and 22 in Grand Bahama under its Small Home Repair Programme, with about $500,000 spent so far. A second $500,000 allocation will take repairs to San Salvador, Eleuthera, Acklins, Crooked Island and North Andros.

But Mrs Rahming warned against confusing assessments and signed contracts with finished work. Of 41 contracted repairs, she said, 20 had been completed.

“I want to be very careful here, because a home that has been assessed is not the same as the home that has been repaired,” she said. “A contract that has been signed is not the same as a completed job. And we must report those stages clearly, and we must keep following through until the work is properly finished.”

She estimated that about 35 applications were waiting on her desk.

The programme mainly targets vulnerable residents, including the elderly, unemployed people, uninsured homeowners and those living in homes in dangerous disrepair. Mrs Rahming said homes in the Family Islands often need interior work because of deterioration, mould and the difficulty of getting building supplies.

She also warned that contractors who take government money and fail to finish the work could be blacklisted, though she admitted no blacklist exists yet.

Contractors receive a 40 percent mobilisation payment up front. The remaining 60 percent is held back until inspectors assess the work and the homeowner confirms they are satisfied. Mrs Rahming said some homeowners had called back to complain that their roofs were still leaking, and in those cases contractors were made to fix the problems.

“Of course, we had some who took the money and we couldn’t find them,” she said. “That’s why we had the contractors’ workshop.”

“We’re not looking forward to be faced with that again, and as we’ve indicated, those who decide or who should take our funding and go away, your name will be placed on the Ministry of Works listing as blacklist,” Mrs Rahming said.

For now, she said, past losses have been forgiven.

“I wipe away all the tears, all the money that been missing,” she said. “I forget them in the sea of forgetfulness.”

“There’s no list yet. Hopefully there’ll be a list,” she said.

Outdoor toilets in the capital are a long-standing problem. A 2013 Department of Statistics report found that just over 3,500 private homes in The Bahamas used outside toilets or unconventional toilet facilities, or had none at all. Officials behind the Over-the-Hill Rejuvenation Project had aimed to eliminate outside toilets and outdoor plumbing in those communities by 2025.

Mrs Rahming said the ministry was also pursuing jobs for people with disabilities following a job fair in July. Several applicants had found work and others were still being considered, she said, though she did not give a figure.

The ministry has also launched a neighbourhood beautification initiative stretching from Fleming Street in the Bain and Grants Town constituency to Deveaux Street in Centreville. It includes purpose-built garbage receptacles to tackle persistent complaints about rubbish piling up in residential areas. Mrs Rahming said about $41,000 had been spent on the receptacles and the clean-up.