Six years after thugs drove her out of her Housing Development Corporation (HDC) apartment in Couva, Mary Paria is still homeless. The ailing woman is now desperately seeking a place to live so she can be reunited with her 20-year-old son. When she is not playing cat-and-mouse with the security guards at the San Fernando General Hospital, three chairs at this institution are converted into a bed for Paria to rest her head at nights. During the day she roams the streets as she has nowhere else to go.
“I am desperate. I need a home. I am calling on people to pray for me to get a home. Only God could make a miracle happen,” the soft-spoken woman said in an interview yesterday. Paria, 57, was employed as a domestic helper up until a few years ago when she fell ill and qualified for a disability grant. Her problems began in 2007 when her home, in a squatting settlement at Claxton Bay, was destroyed by a freak storm.
Paria said then minister of planning, housing and the environment, Dr Emily Gaynor Dick-Forde, offered her and other affected residents the option of materials to reconstruct their homes or HDC units. She opted for the latter and entered into a rent-to-own arrangement, paying $100 a month for an apartment at Pelican Avenue, Couva. However, she was forced out of that home by thugs, who stole all of her belongings when she fled.
A letter to this effect was penned by legal officer Hazel Castro on behalf of the director/chairman of the Legal Aid and Advisory Authority on August 11, 2014. It was addressed to HDC managing director Jearlean John. In the letter, Castro wrote that Paria was given a licence in February 2009 to occupy the premises. She said shortly after taking up occupation, Paria was threatened, harassed and victimised by persons unknown to her.
“She (Paria) alleges that she would find strange things in the apartment whenever she went out and returned home. On one occasion, she found a bag of what appeared to be marijuana and on another occasion, a metal object which she believed to be part of a gun. “She made several reports to the Couva Police Station but nothing materialised from those complaints,” the letter stated, referring to attached copies of receipts of police reports.
Castro wrote that Paria maintains that she did not abandon the apartment but was forced out and was in dire need of a home so she could be reunited with her son. She asked John for favourable consideration but to date Paria remains homeless. In December 2014, Paria received an acknowledgement to a letter sent to the ombudsman about her problems. The ombudsman’s letter, dated December 19, 2014, indicated that the HDC, by letter dated November 27, 2014, had informed that matter was receiving their attention.
Contacted on the matter, John said she was not in her office at the time and could not access Paria’s files. She said it was an unfortunate case and promised to look into the situation and assist Paria if she could.