Trailers used for temporary housing after Hurricane Ivan in 2004 are here to stay.
Government accepted 84 trailers from the United States Federal Emergency Management Agency in the first months of 2005 to provide housing for those left homeless in the September 2004 storm.
Temporary Housing Unit Chief Catherine Tyson stands in front of some of the trailers occupying a site that looks over the Fairbanks women’s prison. Photo: Basia Pioro |
Cabinet Secretary Orrett Connor says a government-owned Water Authority site in East End is being prepared to safely store 83 trailers for the foreseeable future.
‘Once the site is ready, we will be keeping them there so they can be used if the need arises in the future,’ he said.
The homes arrived with an exit plan that they were to leave the Cayman Islands within 24 months, but of the 84 trailers that were brought to the Island, 46 are still occupied. One was destroyed by fire in 2006.
And it appears that until a radical solution to long-term affordable housing is found in Grand Cayman, a few dozen will remain occupied for the foreseeable future.
That’s an improvement over June of last year. At that time, the units were 93 per cent occupied, but the process of moving the remaining 63 adults and 65 children out of the trailers is going slowly.
‘You could call it a positive situation for some of our tenants, with maybe 25-30 per cent getting jobs and moving on,’ said Temporary Housing unit chief Catherine Tyson.
Moving out the tenants makes sense, as the trailers do not make great homes.
The trailers are only built to withstand winds up to 75 miles an hour, only one mile an hour above the threshold of a Category 1 hurricane.
In the event of a storm, residents will need to be evacuated.
Because they are designed to be portable and lightweight, in some aspects the trailers are downright flimsy.
‘The units are not intended for long-term occupancy, and as a consequence everything is a little more delicate, a little more breakable than the fixtures you would find in a regular home,’ said Ms Tyson.
Through good fortune and the attention of two maintenance workers, the trailers have survived to this point in relatively good condition.
But despite the loving care a tenant can offer, a household with three children can find its trailer becoming increasingly battered.
Those physical challenges can be remedied, at least for the time being, with hammer and nails.
But the challenge of making ends meet puts another, more complicated kind of pressure on both the Temporary Housing Unit and trailer residents.
In September 2006, a study commissioned by Mr. Connor looked into trailer tenant issues, including residents’ perceptions of their housing and employment needs, especially among those with no incomes, low incomes and no homes.
At the time, Mr. Connor acknowledged the report was a response to the dependency culture that had sprung up among some of its tenants, but that the administration was keen to take a proactive stance in the matter.
‘Government wants to help those who show willingness to meet us more than halfway in finding achievable re-housing and employment solutions,’ he said then.
Ms Tyson said the report found that many of the residents interviewed had no property or land.
‘That means that if they moved out of here, they would have to rent at market price,’ said Ms Tyson.
It’s a difficult proposal because, while 40 per cent of the adults who live in the trailers have jobs, salaries are not matching housing availability.
‘If you are bringing in $1,500 a month – if that – a one-bedroom apartment will eat up your whole paycheque,’ said Ms Tyson.
With its residents struggling to make do on government support or low-salary jobs, collecting rents, which range from $500 to $700 a month, continues to prove a challenge for Ms Tyson’s team.
‘We are working very hard with the tenants to find creative ways to make sure the rent is paid and people are meeting their commitments,’ she says.
Related Videos
