Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
Saturday morning's fire that left several people homeless has drawn attention once again to especially wooden dwellings built close together and the hazard this creates. On this occasion it regarded the St. Peters district near Marigot Hill Road, but similarly devastating blazes with comparable consequences already have occurred several times in recent years at, for example, Over the Bank near the Vineyard Building and in the Cay Bay area.
Minister of Public Housing, Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure Maurice Lake is rightly concerned about this situation and after the October 2013 fire in Cole Bay put a team together to make recommendations for improvement. However, this takes time and indeed requires working with the private property owners involved.
The reality is that in most cases it regards cheap housing for immigrant workers, who often have families back home they must take care of and cannot afford to pay more. If the structures were built farther apart so they would be less of a firetrap and the current rent prices maintained, the landlord obviously would lose out on income.
However, in many cases these homes were put up without the necessary permits and do not comply with today's legal standards. One could make the argument that those who own the land are co-responsible for breaking the applicable rules and regulations by either erecting the structures or allowing such.
Especially considering the latter, they certainly should be willing to give their cooperation to achieve a safer environment for their tenants. After all, God forbid, if fatalities ever were to be mourned as a result of these violations, it's not unthinkable that the property owners in question could be held accountable, but also government for not enforcing the building codes.
