Business View caribbean - Aug 2023

19 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN VOLUME 10, ISSUE 8 VIRGIN ISLANDS HOUSING AUTHORI TY (VIHA) Despite the devastating blows delivered by Hurricanes Irma and Maria that year, which caused an estimated $11-$12 billion in damages and reduced the population to around 87,000, VIHA’s commitment to its populace has not waned. “The hurricanes did a great deal of damage,” acknowledges Robert Graham, Executive Director at VIHA, “but our mission remains the same: to provide quality housing.” VIHA owns and operates around 3,000 public housing units distributed across 24 developments in Saint Thomas and Saint Croix. This 60-year-old housing stock, however, is burdened by a deferred capital improvement cost of $200 million. “To bring the public housing inventory up to current code, we would need $200 million,” Graham explains. The reality of their annual budget for capital