Colombo (AsiaNews) – On the occasion of World Habitat Day, observed yesterday in Sri Lanka under the theme "Adequate housing for all", the government handed over more than 5,000 homes across the country built with public funds.
The authorities also announced plans to build another 30,000 homes by 31 December, focusing particularly on low-income families and those in the North and East who lost their homes during the war years.
Yet, in the Western Province’s Gampaha district, hundreds of low-income families have been waiting nearly 45 years for a solution to their housing problem.
Thanks to the Negombo People’s United Organisation, set up to represent people lacking proper housing, they have issued an appeal to the government: "Do not let our dream of a shelter dissolve.”
Niluka Kumari, a 45-year-old Catholic mother of three married children, describes a plight that has spanned generations.
“Our entire generation has been without homes. My parents never owned a home, and neither do I. Now, all three of my children are married, yet they do not have homes either,” she explained.
“I am currently living in my 15th rented house,” she said, while “Rents keep rising steadily. As tenants earning a meagre daily income just to make ends meet, we have faced mounting difficulties over the years.”
For her, the precariousness of renting is not just a matter of money.
"Because we live in rented accommodation, we lack a permanent address of our own. Consequently, we encounter various obstacles when trying to obtain a Grama Niladhari certificate,”[*] she explained.
“Furthermore, if a death occurs in the family, we are not permitted to conduct funeral rites within the rented house. The body has to be taken to a funeral parlour or somewhere else. It is forbidden to drive a nail into the wall to hang a calendar or a picture.”
“If something happens to the house, we must pay the owner for the damage. So, living in a rented house further brings no peace of mind."
N. Vigneshwaran, a day labourer and father of two, has been renting for 19 years.
“I am the sole breadwinner for the family; I live with my wife, our two children, and my parents, and I must meet everyone's needs. It is extremely difficult to cover food, the children's school requirements, and medical expenses – let alone the monthly rent, electricity, and water bills – on my daily wage. Consequently, we have no income to build or purchase a home of our own.”
Rental housing also comes with rules and restrictions that become increasingly burdensome as children grow up.
According to Vigneshwaran, politicians have made promises repeatedly for decades with no results.
"Every time there is an election, they ask how many votes the family has. When our housing problem is mentioned, they promise to provide a solution. But [. . .] none of the previous governments have fulfilled their promises”.
for Kuveni, president of the Negombo People’s United Organisation and a mother of three, highlights the lack of privacy. The “limited space [. . .] creates difficulties, especially for girls and young women”. In fact, “when they need to change their clothes, they often have to hang up a cloth as a makeshift screen to do so”.
Her family is now living in their 13th rented home, paying 20,000 rupees a month.
“When the rain comes, we have to keep some buckets everywhere in the house to protect it from the rain,” she laments. “My husband earns only 2,000 rupees per day. We have three children. So, every month we borrow money to pay the rent and then pay interest on the borrowed money.”
For this reason, “we plead with this government [. . .] to take the necessary steps” since “we have nowhere to go and nobody to turn to.”
[*] The latter provides proof of residence.
