THE National Housing Development Corporation (NHDC) on Tuesday served notices of removal on the illegal occupants of Bourkesfield Heights in Old Harbour Bay, which could leave dozens of people from the area shelterless.

According to the notice, occupants whose names did not appear on the list of the intended beneficiaries earmarked after Hurricane Ivan have until next Monday, October 22, to vacate the premises.

“Persons who were unlawfully in occupation there were served notices,” acting managing director of the government agency, Joseph Shoucair, confirmed yesterday.

“They have absolutely no right in those houses. You cannot just move into a house without permission,” he said, explaining that the 75 houses in question were built to provide accommodation for persons who were displaced by Hurricane Ivan in 2004.

The housing development is still, however, incomplete and Old Harbour Bay victims of Hurricane Dean, which hit the island on August 19, sought refuge from the elements in the small two-bedroom houses.

But now the NHDC, which assumed control of the housing scheme in August, said it is time for them to go so the agency can complete the infrastructural work and hand over the properties to their rightful beneficiaries.

In Dean’s aftermath, when the NHDC was alerted of the residents’ occupation of Bourkesfield Heights, then chairman of the board, Maureen Webber, said the agency would not take immediate action because of the sensitivity of the situation.

“We were aware that persons were occupying the houses. but in light of the situation, we took a decision at the NHDC that it wasn’t appropriate for us to go in two weeks after the hurricane and ask the people to leave because of the damage to their houses,” she told the Observer.

Some of the affected occupants told the Observer yesterday that they were aware that the premises were for victims of Hurricane Ivan, but maintained that they had absolutely nowhere else to go.

For Monica Lewin, who along with her four children and their father, occupies one of the houses, the situation seems hopeless. Her family, she said, lives in Portland Cottage in neighbouring Clarendon and they, too, suffered badly at the hands of both hurricanes and was therefore unable to render assistance.

“I’m willing to leave because I agree that the house dem is for those who lost in Ivan, but can I leave and go on the street?

“I have four kids and I had to sort dem out for school all over again so I couldn’t find nuh more money to find somewhere to go. We would love the people dem to give wi even another month,” she said.

One of Lewin’s neighbours, Derrick Johnson, said the member of parliament, Everald Warmington, met with some of the residents some weeks ago and promised to deliver building materials to them. But, he said, the promise was not yet fulfilled and it was therefore unfair for the NHDC to throw them out.

Most of the dislocated Bourkesfield occupants reportedly lost all their material possessions, including beds and clothing, to Dean. They said their original intention was not to stay in the community but to seek shelter from the raging storm. Those plans, however, changed when they returned home the day after the storm and saw only fragments of what used to be their dwellings.

Yesterday, Warmington declined to speak with the Observer on the matter, but Shoucair said the NHDC was aware of the additional need for houses and was in the process of planning to provide for the victims of Dean.

“But we have to take care of the Ivan victims first,” he said, admitting embarrassment that it has taken this long to relocate those residents.

Bourkesfield was developed by the governments of Jamaica and Venezuela in order to relocate Old Harbour Bay’s coastal residents following the devastation of Hurricane Ivan three years ago. The plans apparently developed a few snags, particularly the putting in of the sewerage system, and the project was halted. When it was turned over to the NHDC roughly two months ago, minor repairs to windows and doors, as well as the electrical wiring, began.