A place to call home :)

Most if the population of approximately 1.15 million persons in the island of Trinidad live in single family dwellings. 

(i) This neat little abode is located on Purcell Street in San Fernando. Its simplicity really caught my eyes and to me represented a typical single family house. Housing is a basic physiological need as well as important symbolically. Also adequate housing is a human right. The houses around the area had a similar layout with porch upstairs and a garage downstairs and most were two stories high. It looks like a flat house from this angle but there is another floor underneath on the sloping terrain. The interwoven panel fence conceals the tiny garage on the side of the house which possible allows about 2 cars to fit one behind the other. This home seems very comfortable and appears to provide this a basic household with the basic necessities for instance water and shelter. Where the dwelling is located can shape your access to resources. In this case it was located near many resources including San Fernando General Hospital, Naparima Girls High School, many pharmacies, bakeries and supermarkets. This prime location is in close proximity to most things and will be an ideal spot to live in. Think about your future house, what would it look like and where it may be located (also keep in mind that the price of land in this country is sky rocketing...).

Original Painting by Jill’s Dream on Etsy

(ii) Single family houses are more common in Trinidad and Tobago thanx townhouses or apartment buildings; however, in recent times the real estate developers have tended to construct more apartment complexes and townhouses. These are being provided with full security guard services. The type of dwelling within suburbs has been relatively uniforms until recently, with single family dwellings dominating. Key changes have been the incorporation of garages into these buildings as the ownership of motor cars has increased, and more recently a greater variety of dwelling types, including smaller homes and apartments, as the demographic structure of many western societies has changed to include more single-person households. Recent research has also begun to highlight processes and forms of adaptation to suburbs at the micro scale, including intensification of plot use through infill alterations to single family dwellings, including extensions and conversions to apartments (Hall and Barrett, 2012).

References

Hall, Tim, and Heather Barrett .2012. Urban Geography. London and New York: Routledge Publishing.

http://www.discover-tt.net/business/expatriate_living_culture_tourism.html

(iii) Additional Information

Opopune Housing Development – 54 single family homes in this community

http://www.udecott.com/index.php/cc/cc_project_item/oropune_housing_development/

New housing developments in Arima -

http://legacy.guardian.co.tt/archives/2006-02-28/bussguardian1.html

Construction Practices and Seismic Vulnerability: Typical Single Family Dwellings in Trinidad - http://cidbimena.desastres.hn/pdf/eng/doc6003/doc6003-contenido.pdf

Here is a short interview on investing in single family homes: