Inner City Neighbourhoods

In the end, we may be hurting the very people we should be concerned about - the inner-city poor, those who already have to live with many risks in their daily lives, those who do not have a say in government."  Fred Thompson

Mon Repos and Olera Heights Apartment Complex. 

Surrounding the downtown core is a series of diverse but well established inner-city communities. The first major expansion of the city was Les Efforts East and West, Mon Repos and Vistabella.

With increases in population growth in this area, these inner city communities were experience uncontrolled growth with substandard housing. The government under Housing Development Corporation (HDC) formerly National Housing Authority (NHA), attempting to curb the rapid growth of these informal houses constructed apartment buildings for the lower income people in the City to ensure that these areas do not fall into a slum like existence. In the past the buildings of the Mon Repos Apartment Complex were usually run down, neglected and lacked basic things such as landscaping, car parks drainage and a proper place for children to play. Today, there has been a revitalization of the community, the exterior has been updated and all amenities has been installed for the members of this community but the realities faced by the people may still very much be the same. 

HDC Apartment Complex Mon Repos

Similarly, in recent times another apartment has been developed in Vistabella to curb the housing problems in the inner city. This complex is Olera Heights located in Vistabella. 

 Although there is the perception of  these apartment complexes as being “crime hotspots” especially after the state of emergency in 2011  where they were labelled as such, many residence would disagree. After speaking to one resident, she said in her opinion her community is just like any other, “just like Palmiste (a rich suburban area) the children are safe, everyone knows and look out for each other and there are no problems besides lack of jobs, of course, there are people who break the law, like any other place, the only difference is they are more likely to get caught, just because we live here  We have a problem when we are blatantly being ignored."(Nora Bramble).

Olera Heights, before its  revitalization
 http://www.panoramio.com/photo/35564068

Olera Heights today

No Jobs, No Opportunities.

According to Pacione (1990) in the Principle Model of Urban Deprivation,  the fourth theoretical model  identifies "maldistribution of resources and opportunities, he explains that the "problems arising from an inequitable distribution of resources', he describes the location of the problem as "the relationship between the underprivileged and the formal political machine."

The residents of these inner city housing developments would say they are jobless and in most cases without a chance.  An example of this happened in 2012 when the residents of the Mon Repos Apartment complex blocked the road in protest. According to the Express Newspaper article, the residents said it was an act of “desperation” by the jobless residents.  They complained that “their only sources of income were the Community-Based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (CEPEP) and the Colour Me Orange make-work programme which they closed to the people of Mon Repos” Complaining that “that people being employed on the Colour Me Orange project were not from the area. Leaving some 200 people  without jobs.” One resident shared "we have single parents and mothers

One resident shared "We have single parents and mothers. Things are getting harder and tougher, and the community itself needs cleaning and maintaining. There are avenues for employment and the Government just not creating avenues for them, 90 per cent of the people living in the housing scheme were affected by the closure of the employment programmes in the community.” The following video gives a little more insight into how the people feel (this video was shot before the the revitalization of the community.

Angry Mon Repos, San Fernando, resident gather outside the HDC building in San Fernando, demanding why their names was not on the list for the new “Color Me Orange programme

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Kissoon C. (July 18 2012). Mon Repos residents block road to protest 'lack of jobs'. Trinidad and Tobago Express Newspaper. from http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Mon_Repos_residents_block_road_to_protest__lack_of_jobs_-162984906.html

Pacione, M (1990), Urban Geography, A Global Perspective. Journal of Rural Studies, Vol. 6. No. 1, pp. 417.

Ministry of Local Government (2015). 
http://www.localgov.gov.tt/~/media/Resource%20Library/Spatial%20Development%20Plans%20Per%20Corporation/San%20Fernando%20City%20Corporation%20Spatial%20Development%20Plan.ashx