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Basseterre – Just months after the spectacular collapse of the 2,400‑home “smart housing” dream with Trinidad’s East Coast Housing Development, the Drew administration has quietly struck a deal with a Dubai‑based CBI agent and global consultancy—ClientReferrals—to construct just 100–150 low‑income homes using Citizenship‑by‑Investment passport revenues.

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Why This New Deal Stinks of Déjà Vu

No credible track record. ClientReferrals has zero experience building mass housing—let alone smart homes.

CBI‑funded scheme. Funds from passport sales will bankroll construction, bypassing traditional financing or local investor contributions.

Ministerial silence. Neither PM Drew, DPM Hanley, nor the NHC have publicly explained why local firms were sidelined—again.

Scale drastically reduced. From a bold plan for 2,400 homes to just 100–150 homes? That’s a 95% reduction in promised housing equity.

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The Real Question: What’s the Plan for Local Contractors?

The previous smart home plan was lambasted for awarding the project to a foreign developer with no Caribbean credentials . Now, the government seems eager to repeat the mistake—again giving the keys to foreigners while locals remain on the outside looking in.

Citizens are left wondering:

Will local jobs, contractors, builders ever be prioritized?

How can this government justify another foreign-first housing scheme?

And will this project suffer the same fate—unbuilt homes, broken promises?

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Demand ACCOUNTABILITY NOW

—but the track record says otherwise. With no transparency, no local engagement, and a disastrous history, St. Kitts and Nevis deserves answers:

• Who chose ClientReferrals?
• Why CBI‑funded housing, and not local‑funded?
• What are the safeguards to prevent another collapse?

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The People Deserve Better

After nearly two years of smart home hype that delivered nothing, and a follow‑up housing scheme that feels like a shadow of its promise, the Drew administration must step up. No more foreign favorites. No more empty press releases.

We need real, local solutions to our housing crisis. The silent majority demands transparency, responsibility, and genuine investment in our people—not another passport‑funded vanity project.

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