The Saint Lucia Development Bank was represented by Senior Risk Analyst Ms. Gale Cumberbatch at the Understanding Risk Caribbean Conference based on the panel “Building Resilient Housing in the Eastern Caribbean”. Which took place on Tuesday May 28th, 2019 at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Cave Hill Campus Barbados between the hours of 11:40 am to 12:55 pm.
As stated, “A home can be a family’s biggest asset and a source of generational wealth as parents often give it to children, so with one disaster most of a family’s wealth can be wiped away. Destruction of homes also have major social impacts and can negatively affect childhood learning and development.
Lack of housing resilience is often associated with low affordability, as high cost drives families to build in high risk zones under inadequate standards. The presentation focused on the plan to implement his green affordable housing project which includes relocating persons in flood prone at risk areas to climate resilient houses.
Eastern Caribbean countries are working to improve the resilience of their housing stock through assessing current conditions, enhancing housing stock and improving policies. In this session, we will learn more what Eastern Caribbean are doing to improve their housing programs; as well as have a forum for the exchange of ideas”.
UR Caribbean boasted close to 500 participants with representatives from over 20 Caribbean countries and abroad.