Business View Caribbean l Feb 2023

51 52 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN VOLUME 10, ISSUE 2 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN VOLUME 10, ISSUE 2 CENTRAL HOUS ING AND PLANNING AUTHOR I TY “Although the purchase of land is the most requested service from CHAPA, housing requests have increased significantly in recent times,” he adds. CHAPA’s primary customers are citizens of Antigua and Barbuda aged eighteen years and above, particularly low- and middle-income earners. Despite being a government agency, CHAPA operates in a market-driven environment, competing with private developers for customers and land. However, Philip points out that these factors do not affect its operations because of the different approaches to construction each market player utilizes. “Our competitors either use different materials for building or have substantial financial resources so they can build for the high-income earners. At CHAPA, we strive to provide respectable, affordable homes for low-income earners of society.” “We also stand out from our competitors because we have an effective team, always move towards building resilience and sustainable homes, provide great customer service, and cater to low-income citizens.” “We are also a government entity with a low- profit mandate, so we have the opportunity to facilitate construction activities through public- private partnerships, which is a useful risk management strategy our competitors lack.” Another competitive advantage the authority has is the types of partners and stakeholders it gets to work with as a government agency. They include the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Renewal, the Development Control Authority (DCA), the Department of Survey and Mapping, the Land Registry, and the State Insurance Company Ltd. It also collaborates with local companies and organizations like financial institutions, building material vendors, contractors, heavy-duty equipment companies, and legal service providers. Despite the benefits of being a government agency, CHAPA’s history has not been devoid of challenges. For instance, as Richards explains, it had to undergo a restructuring in 2019 to make it more efficient and sustainable as a business. “In 2019, CHAPA took the time to restructure and correct many practices that were harmful to its overall survivability and effectiveness,” he says. “A functional organizational structure was put in place to include new management positions, revised policies and procedures to effectively guide departments critical to the organization’s success to fulfill its core mandate of providing affordable housing to low- and middle-income earners.” “CHAPA for decades has been focusing more on creating and selling land parcels in subdivisions for residential development rather than creating Houses at our North Sound Housing Dev. Mark Richards, Housing Executive Officer