Fifty families get CUBEL houses in Burrell Boom

On Sunday, there will be a boom in pride in the Belize District when fifty families get the keys for new homes. Project “Fresh Pond” in the village of Burrell Boom began almost a year ago as part of the CUBEL housing scheme. According to Ministry of Housing’s public education officer, Rhenae Nunez, the aim of the project is to provide affordable housing to low income families.

Rhenae Nunez, Public Education Officer, Housing Dept.

“They are three and two bedroom bungalow type houses, CUBEL technology. They are also panel linked and there’s another type house that was built from a Styrofoam model. All these houses are able to withstand hurricane force winds of up to a hundred and ten miles per hour. What we’ve taken into consideration, is of course the threat of Mitch and then Keith that we’ve had to consider that we provide somewhere that is safe also. Even the poorest of our society deserve the dignity of living in a comfortable and safe environment. The house and lot value is about forty thousand dollars, for a three-bedroom. And a two-bedroom is a little under forty, say about thirty-seven, thirty-eight thousand dollars. The payments run from two-fifty to three hundred, depending on what size you get. The lots are a hundred by one hundred feet and I need also add the Fresh Pond is about twenty-five miles above sea level, so it is a safe investment for low income families.”

To qualify for a CUBEL house, you must be a Belizean, employed and own the land on which the house is to be built. Most mortgage agreements are for twenty years at an eight point five percent interest rate.