 Hundreds of St. Lucians are to benefit from a major component of government's socio-economic program for the nation. The Department of Housing and Local Government on Wednesday 6 October 2021 launched the National Housing Assistance Program which will provide proper housing for the vulnerable and indigent. The National Housing Assistance Program aims to ensure that lower income earners and the most vulnerable amongst the population have access to adequate housing. Permanent Secretary in the Department of Housing and Local Government Dr. Cadillia Ambrose indicated that the department has been inundated with requests for housing assistance from the very low to the low income population. It is for this reason she explained that the ministry felt it imperative that the intervention be made. The activities under the NHAP are structured for implementation as follows. The identification and creation of an inventory of households with the most urgent housing needs, assessments and ranking of this in priority of urgency, designing of assistance packages most suited to the housing needs of identified households, disbursement of assistance packages in the form of technical assistance, building materials and all labour grants, monitoring and evaluating of the program. Thus, it is envisaged that through the NHAP initiative, some measure of relief, poverty reduction, empowerment and overall enhancement to the socio-economic well-being of many across St. Lucia will be achieved. Ministering the Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for housing and local government, Hon. Richard Frederick clarified the criteria under which individuals would be eligible for assistance. Those seeking assistance would have to satisfy a list of criteria. Individuals who live in inhumane conditions, low income generating households, person affected by natural and man-made disasters, the elderly, the elderly, those who fall within the poverty group, the homeless and those who are disabled with such disability preventing them from entering the workforce. I need to pause here a second to disclose this caveat. Persons who are in illegal occupation of land would not have access to this program unless the owner of the land gives permission to effect repairs on that house. I want to repeat this. Persons who are in illegal occupation of land will not be able to access this assistance unless the owners of the land give permission. We don't want a situation where just having refurbished a house, the owner of the land says, boom, we don't want that kind of situation. So we have the establishment of a project team to oversee the implementation of the program. Households will be identified using various tools, including the priority means test and where it is absolutely necessary, absolutely necessary houses will be reconstructed. The program is being funded via a loan from the import-export bank of the Republic of China-Taiwan to the tune of $10 million. $4 million of the loan will be spent on the National Housing Assistance Program. Ambassador of Taiwan to St. Lucia, his Excellency Peter Shen, reaffirmed Taiwan's commitment to assisting in the development of St. Lucia. As a staunch development partner of St. Lucia, Taiwan has over the years participated in the national development of Fair Helen by sharing expertise and providing assistance in the fields of agriculture, education, healthcare, digital access, ICT, community development and so on. By providing a soft commercial loan facilities to finance the housing assistance program, the Expo and Import Bank in Taiwan will help bring many disadvantaged families in St. Lucia one step closer to having a safe haven where they can love and to be loved. Together, we can achieve more. Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Economic Development and Youth Economy, the Honourable Philip J. Pierre, explained that the loan was repurposed to address the more urgent needs of the vulnerable. We are launching that program $10 million and I can tell you is that the initial thinking of that program was not to see about housing for indigent and poor people. That is a fact. It was meant to do other things. Other things that are important, but it was not meant for that program. It took the Cabinet, through the Minister, to convince the Taiwanese and the other officials that a more immediate need was to repair the houses of people in this country. So whereas what we wanted to do, what the money was initially aimed at doing was to improve the infrastructure in a certain area. Needed, needed, because I said before it's a matter of inclusion, needed. But we sought immediate needs for the poor and the underprivileged and the indigent. Minister for Equity, Social Justice and Empowerment Honourable Joakim Henry, pledging his support to the program, indicated that it was very timely and will go a long way in assisting those in dire need. It is my belief that in promoting and securing social justice and acknowledging the fundamentals of human rights of our people, poverty and vulnerability reduction programs must consider the provision of safe and secure place to reside. Therefore, as WHO Commission on Social Determinance of Health has stated, access to quality housing is necessary for implementing insecure social justice and health equity. And that access to quality housing and shelter and clean water and sanitation are human rights and basic needs for a healthy living. And as I believe, healthy living at the individual or household levels will translate into healthy communities and ultimately a healthy nation. The National Housing Assistance Program was officially launched on the 6th of October 2021.