VG woman forced to think about living in car due to high rent costs- Hon Wheatley
The Minister said some persons are being moved to the point of desperation, including contemplating living in their cars.
Hon Wheatley was giving his contribution to the debate on the Insurance Amendment Bill 2024, at the Continuation of the Nineteenth Sitting of the First Session of the Fifth House of Assembly (HoA) on September 4, 2024.
He said it was only on Monday that someone on Virgin Gorda told him she would be the first on Virgin Gorda to live in her car.
“She said to me, ‘I heard on Tortola they live in cars. I will be the first on Virgin Gorda to live in my car. I can’t afford this anymore.’” Hon Wheatley stated.
Hon Wheatley explained that the cost of insurance on mortgages went up after Hurricane Irma and that apartment owners have been burdened since.
$4k to $14k insurance increase after Irma
He said he knows of one person whose insurance on a mortgage went from 4 or 5 thousand dollars to 14 thousand dollars and added that while some landlords have actually tried to absorb the expenses, some were forced to pass on the increase to their tenants.
He said the situation is driving people quickly into desperation.
“She told me she would live in her car” and that she has no choice, Hon Wheatley said.
“I don’t know what can be done but it is not something that we cannot ignore much longer, Madam Speaker, or we are going to find more and more people being forced out of apartments,” Hon Wheatley stated.
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56 Responses to “VG woman forced to think about living in car due to high rent costs- Hon Wheatley”
Here is the answer. The expat managers and some executives of trust companies and other in the legal and financial sectors even some medical professionals.
Those people ought to make big money then, well the government ought to make sure locals get those positions, not fair a foreigner comes here and make them kinda money and locals suffering
Just collecting and not visiting or checking.
Like I said before it seems that apartment was neglected of "landlord maintenance". $16k in damages doesn't happen overnight. An involved landlord would not end up in this. You were quite happy collecting rent and not maintaining the said property.
If it is true what I read you said, then you are not a true competent government Minister, but like a wolf in sheep's clothing (fake Minister) collecting and spending our tax money unworthily, like many other political Leaders and many, especially high salary earners do unjustly and some low earners do, too, at the people's experience, daily.
Let God be true, and every man a liar.
God is Love and Love is God.
It is not insurance on the mortgage, it's the same insurance a property owner without a mortgage takes out to protect themselves against risk. Our one-bedroom property is insured for $225k, and the premium is about $4500/year.
So an apartment owner who has paid off his mortgage still has significant expenses, including taxes and maintenance, before he makes a cent on his investment.
Simply put, this is the cost of living in a hurricane and earthquake zone. The government hadn't insured most of their own property when Irma hit, probably because of cost, and those costs have risen. Are government properties all insured now? That would be a good question to ask in the HOA.
Some places in the world have the opposite problem, too many people left and prices are rock bottom.
If you just trying to work construction, or house cleaning, you are locked out of the market.
If these billionaires build these projects that require this much staff, they need to start providing housing. The rest of us are paying for it!!
Monaco....,ZERO crime ZERO Poverty
Invest Yes
Infest NO
Drain the Swamp!
Minister don’t stand their and say you don’t know what to do. At least act as though you know why you are there, they people elected you to advocate on their behalf, so do something.
No insurance company will agree to limit to a 2.2% increase when costs are rising more than that. The size of the population doesn't matter. Let's say there is a 10% chance of an insurable event, it doesn't matter if the population is 10,000 or 10 million. It's actuarial science.
What would reduce insurance costs? More stringent building codes, but that would likely increase building costs. Bottom line: there is no magic bullet.
I cannot imagine the rules for building a house now. I got mine at age 22, and the other at 35 there is only two houses in my yard. None of which require a bank loan, piece by piece I build. Most materials are natural slate and coral tiles, all the wood was imported,doors,cabinets were done locally. Irma, just blue out two windows,a little water in the kitchen and one of bathrooms,everything was intact. Insurance companies is a thing of the pass at my houses,so forgive me if I don’t know who hurting.
They're playing poker with senior housing and 'affordable' housing over here. Its Chinatown, Jake.
Insurance whether property, auto, health, casualty, etc. is a shared risk. The larger the pool sharing the risk the lower each member in the pool will have to pay, spreading the cost.,Nonetheless, in a small locale as the VI with a small population the cost share will be higher. In regards to property, the landlord cost or a portion of the cost is included as part of the rent cost. Should the full 1/12 of the insurance cost be included in the monthly rent of a tenant? For landlords renting multiple units, the montly 1/12 insurance cost should be distributed among the units.
Ok. The VI is a small locale with a small population, high insurance, shortage of rental units. What can be done to easy to ease the burden on poor, lower middle class renters.. I’m going to go a little rogue with a little non-revolutionary socialism. Socialism is not some new to the VI. I propose developing and employing a Universal Basic Income ( UBI) to cover, ie, housing, food, health, etc.
This brings us to pricing methods in the BVI. Pricing is not based on any structured methods. Seems merchants stick their fingers in the air and determine a price. Merchants seem to want to recoup an expense right away instead of spreading out the cost. For example, if a case of beer goes up $0.25, the merchants tend to increase the price of one beer by $0.25. Ridiculous and greedy. Yes,,everything has to imported, prices rise, profits must be made, etc, but merchants can do more better. This is poor English but it reflects the greed.
Bro, you gone socialist on us , sweetening it with the term non-revolutionary socialism. UBI, that is an ambitious policy shift for this government and HoA which cannot eben get the budget right, ie, $20M oversight. The opposition wants to blame government on the oversight but they have to shoulder some blame. Did they vote on the budget, did they challenge the numbers for each ministry, department, agency, etc. Ray Charles would have seen that the number for civil servants pay was too low..Did HoA asked for prior years numbers, recent PWC analysis, did the Deputy Governor present the budget proposal. Look, HoA members are not elected to dress and come to work to rest. The budget process is f….k up as Hogan’s goat; it is making Hogan’s goat look good. Common on man!!
I would recommend looking into tis program and possibly others even if you could afford the rent in Tortola.
The BVI ,as tiny as it is,cannot survive withe the amount of the foreign poverty it has visited upon itself. There will be no gratitude expressed by these imported with nothing to give in return. Their DNA as a group is Mucked up.Nothjng good can come of it. Drain the swamp!
I have an apartment I cannot afford a car. An aparment is my priority as is that of sensible adults. People with her mentality deserves the bed they make for themselves. Not worth even thinking about.
Why reside in a place you cannot afford....makes no sense.
There are many islands in the Caribbean where cost of living is lowwww..
Most of the humans in these BVI and VI,call those places home.
Return home,please,I beg,simple straight forward remedy.
Please be advised all customers who have standing orders where by they have your credit card or bank information keep your eyes on your accounts.
They give you a quote and you agree to that quote next thing they go ahead and increase the price on you after a couple of months and don't tell you. Thief thief unethical practice they need to be brought before the FSC. I am serious. Next homeowners insurance they some don't want you to pay in monthly. This one insurance for sure want a large sum then the balance in 3 months payments stating its the companies they under write for. Pure lies money hungry. They think you pick up money on a tree everyday. People pay attention this one only wants cash. If you pay with card she wants 3% Added to payment to process payment. They are the only ones ripping off customers. It matters not what a customer pays with once you get your money. No where else charges extra but that specific insurance company needs going before FSC to much unethical stuff with that company. Banks are going to be in trouble with people keeping their houses insured they way these insurances are rippping off customers. You have to take a seperate loan every year to get insurance paid.
The rich will get richer the poor will get poorer. Many properties will be put on the market just because of insurances. Thats the trick they want their rich friends to benefit and they get a cut under the table. Or they themselves will buy your homes pure wickedness. The stage is set keep wake people
Wicked and trickie insurance
It’s easy to say control the insurance companies but they can pack up and go elsewhere. Fair to say they took a bit hit in 2017. Some also took a bit hit after Marylin and revised their policies to say no coverage for named storms for a long time. Now, there is a risk that insurance companies may pull out of the Caribbean entirely, just as some have pulled out of the Florida market.
IMHO the issue boils down to lack of long term urban planning. Populations grow and so do housing needs. We don’t want to learn vocational skills so we import something like 40% of labor from elsewhere. They too need housing. Leaving it to the private sector to address a public need clearly does not work. In the end, this sad story is a lamentable manifestation of poor planning and poor governance. Crocodile tears for Mr. Wheatley.