PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad — A proposal by the chairman of Trinidad and Tobago’s Housing Development Corporation (HDC) to regularise people illegally occupying state homes drew a swift response in late December 2025, including from the housing minister, who said he had not been told of it.
HDC chairman Feeroz Khan told the Trinidad Guardian that about 1,000 HDC units were illegally occupied and that the corporation had lost at least TT$500 million in rent and mortgage payments. He proposed assessing whether occupants could qualify for a mortgage and, if so, selling them the units. Estates named included Greenvale Park in La Horquetta, Oasis Greens in Enterprise, Oropune Village, and Cypress Ridge in San Fernando. Khan also said the HDC faced about TT$1.1 billion in near-term obligations and was negotiating a loan of about TT$1 billion.
On 29 December, Housing Minister David Lee told Newsday he was not aware of the policy. The next day, Newsday reported that three women had moved into an HDC townhouse in Riverside South, Corinth, weeks before the family who had bought it, and paid a deposit in November 2020, were due to receive the keys. Police removed the women. The Trinidad Express later reported Lee saying illegal occupants would be removed and that regularisation was on hold.
What it means
Analysis: A state housing agency with around 1,000 occupied but non-paying units and a large funding gap is likely to deliver new homes more slowly. Conflicting signals on squatting also add uncertainty for applicants who have paid deposits and are still waiting for their keys.
Editor’s note: This article was added to the Jamaica Homes News archive on 30 September 2026. It reports events from December 2025 and is dated to when they were reported.
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