Monday October 21st marked the start of the pilot for the renovation of social housing on St. Eustatius. The project is funded by the Ministry of Interior Affairs and Kingdom Relations in an effort to improve the housing conditions on St. Eustatius. Public Entity of St. Eustatius and Ministry have teamed up with Dutch housing corporation Woonlinie to renovate all houses, following a successful pilot.
One house has been selected for a trial of this project. In this house the kitchen, bathroom, all floors, doors and windows will be replaced and the house will be painted inside and out. The renovation will be carried out by local contractors under the supervision of Woonlinie. The Statia Housing Foundation (SHF) has assisted with finding temporary housing for the tenant of the pilot house.
After completion of the pilot all SHF tenants will be able to view the renovated house to see the improvements. After a thorough evaluation of the pilot and with a positive outcome the remaining 94 houses will be renovated according to a phased schedule. Most of the 95 houses built between the 1960’s to the 1990’s need to be completely updated to meet new living standards and need to be fixed and repaired.