Squatters living at the La Culebra site, Ramjattan Trace, off Tumpuna Road, Arima, have started rebuilding, one day after the Commissioner of State Lands and police cracked down on them and demolished 12 illegal houses.
The Express visited the site yesterday and spoke with about a dozen residents who insisted they had nowhere else to go and had no choice but to rebuild their homes.
The squatters also complained that an illegal pipeline to the settlement had been broken by the excavator which tore down their wooden and concrete houses.
Several of them felt their Member of Parliament, Foster Cummings, and the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) should reach out to them.
The HDC said it had previously served notices to the occupants of 12 structures to vacate the property by this month.
On Thursday, the squatters had a heated clash with police when they came to the settlement to enforce the demolition of illegal structures.
Twelve homes were torn down by an excavator, and the squatters said about 60 people were left without shelter.
Some spent Thursday night inside a temporary room that was rebuilt right after the demolition team left, while others slept at the homes of other squatters whose houses had not yet been demolished.
The squatters told the Express they salvaged some belongings, but said they had lost chests of drawers, couches, chairs and fridges.
One of the affected people, Ayanna Sharpe, said the HDC contacted squatters yesterday morning and asked for their names and identification card numbers. She said she told the HDC representative they were still occupying the land because they had nowhere to go.
Sharpe said: “We are hoping for some type of help, in terms of relocating us or giving us back the land, helping us rebuild our homes back on (the land), compensating us for the damage of our furniture. Anything of that sort.”
The squatters were also willing to accept first preference for the homes the HDC plans to erect on the location, she added.
Adele Yearwood, another squatter who spoke with the Express, said she was living on the site for about seven years.
“All the time I have been living here, the place was full of bush but quiet. There were people living further down to the back,” she recalled.
Yearwood said their troubles began in 2023 after MP Cummings had a walkabout in the settlement.
“He watched the condition of the place. We had a long walk from the front of the land to the back where it had people living all the time, and after the walk with him, we never heard from him again, although he did tell us that he will return to bring some type of relief,” Yearwood said.
She said their problems were not alleviated yesterday when they made their way to the MP’s office nearby and the secretary ran away and locked the gate to the office.
Asked about allegations that people were selling State lands under fraudulent means, a number of squatters said no one has ever been arrested or charged for that offence.
HDC: Illegal occupants given time to vacate
An update from HDC corporate communications manager Kimberly De Souza yesterday said the corporation noted on Thursday that five of the houses had illegal occupiers, but seven were vacant.
She reiterated that squatters were given adequate time to remove their belongings from the property.
HDC said that last October, 20 illegal structures were removed from the La Culebra site.
“To facilitate this exercise two officers from the Commissioner’s office were in attendance, 12 additional illegal structures remained and needed to be removed. In October 2024 and January 2025 notices were issued to the relevant parties by the Commissioner of State lands.
“Two signs were erected in the vicinity and notices were placed on the 12 structures. The notices stated that the occupants were given notice to vacate the property by January 27, 2025. On that day, the Commissioner of State lands did not go which means the illegal occupants were given an additional nine days to vacate the premises,” the update said.
It added, “Houses and land can be acquired by the Ministry of Housing through its agencies, particularly the Land Settlement Agency (LSA) and the Trinidad and Tobago Housing Development Corporation (HDC).
“The LSA has two programmes which can be accessed, the Government aided self-help housing programme where citizens can apply for residential lots during a certain period and the housing and village improvement programme (HVIP) which assist in rebuilding starter homes for those whose houses are in a deplorable condition.”
De Souza reminded that squatting remains an illegal act and criticised the unplanned development of housing in areas that do not have adequate facilities.
“These spontaneous housing developments also lead to fraudulent activities and sewer and water issues and can be seen as a breeding ground for criminal activities.” she said.
