As we all know, buying a home is not only an important financial commitment, but it is also an emotional one. For many persons, owning a home is a significant milestone in one’s life, symbolic of independence and the coming of age into adulthood. At the national level, affordable and quality housing is critical to improving a country’s standard of living. According to the 2000 Population and Housing Census, Trinidad and Tobago has a high homeownership rate. Of the 343,180 households in Trinidad and Tobago, 77 percent were homeowners. However, the dream of owning a home is posing a serious challenge to many of our citizens, especially those in the low-income group who are unable to afford a mortgage sufficient enough to buy a quality home. About 13 percent of households rented or leased a house from the private sector while about 2 ½ percent rented or leased a house from the government. Close to 7 ½ percent of households were renting free or squatting. Ladies and Gentlemen, please allow me to briefly provide some other information on the housing market, which are indeed sobering. According to a January 2009 Information Memorandum from the Housing and Development Corporation (HDC), there is an acute shortage of housing in Trinidad and Tobago. About 107,000 applications for housing are on the database held by the Ministry of Housing in a country with a population of 1.3 million people.