And today, more than one year after taking office, the first three homes have finally been handed over families that need them. The first was in Valley of Peace, the second in Teakettle, and the third in Roaring Creek. But this is only the start, as the Ministry of Infrastructure, Development and Housing has about 20 homes they want to give before Christmas on Saturday. But today, we caught up with them on their final stop as a single mother got the keys to her brand new, one bedroom home. Courtney Menzies has this story.

The first three of a promised ten thousand houses were handed over today by the Ministry of Infrastructure, Housing, and Development. And for these families, it's a Christmas miracle to finally have a house to call their own. Eligibility for these homes is chosen through a committee, and according to Minister Julius Espat, the recipient of the home in Roaring Creek fit the bill perfectly.

Hon. Julius Espat, Minister of Infrastructure, Development, and Housing
"On of the most needy persons I have met in my political career, single mother, has had difficulties seeking employment, but there is an evaluation committee, it's not my decision, there is an evaluation committee that's made up of wide spectrum of ministries, CEO's and private sector personnel that makes the decision and so what we ask all area reps to submit both UDP and PUP and we ask anybody to submit their names and hopefully they meet the criteria. The criteria is basically single parent, unemployed or under employed, elderly or invalid, and once the criteria is met the evaluatin committee does their work and then once that's approved then it goes to the ministry, from there the CEO takes it over and then it goes through a whole system of technical evaluation and then the house starts."

Courtney Menzies:
"Sir this is house number one out of 10,000, you still have 9,999 houses left, do you think you'll make it?"

Hon. Julius Espat
"Definitely not in the first five years because the budget will not allow us to make it but I think you should stop thinking about the numbers but you should think about the effect it has on people's lives, that's the story I think you should delve into a little bit more."

And for the Roaring Creek recipient, 37-year-old Karina Roches, she couldn't believe that she finally had a place to raise her child.

Karina Roches, Homeowner
"First of all I'm very grateful for the house and I just want to talk God and Mr Espat for always looking out for his Cayo South people. I always dreamed of owning my own house and it's actually becoming a reality so I thank God for that."

Reporter:
"So you find the house to be suitable for you and your child?"

Karina Roches, Homeowner
"Yes sir."

Courtney Menzies:
"Can you just tell us a little bit about where you were living before, were you renting?"

Karina Roches, Homeowner
"No I wasn't renting, I was living with my mom before."

And there's a lot more families who will get some much-needed cheer right before Christmas.

Hon. Julius Espat, Minister of Infrastructure, Development, and Housing
"We are going to Dangriga tomorrow, four in Dangriga, one in Cow Pen. Wednesday the team will take over because I have to join the prime minister in Orange Walk to deal with the Sarteneja Road so our team will be going out west, Cayo North East, Cayo West, and Cayo North and we continue, 20, we have about 50-75 about to finish, the team has just done some more evaluations to start in the New Year. The speed will pick up now because we have already been in contact with a concrete prefabricator that has taken out designs and they have made molds of walls so the new prefabricated houses will be very similar to this but they will all be concrete and the roof slabs will be concrete so that will allow us to build a little bit faster."

And while they'd want to build houses for everyone, they've run into a bit of problems concerning the budget and the land to put them on.

Hon. John Briceno, Prime Minister
"That is certainly the biggest challenge because as I said earlier, we been going through a financial crisis in this country but we only have to remain focus on what are the important things to accomplish. One of them we said we want to improve the lives of our people, we want to get people out of poverty, and you start that by providing the basics like what Minister Espat said earlier that a decent home is a human right and that is where we start and once we keep that in mind we can be able to move mountains if possible."

"We have already instructed the ministry of natural recourses that let us look at different parcels of land, we can't do it in every village but in certain areas that you could get 20, 30, 40, 50 acres of land that we could subdivide it and build 50, 60, 70 homes at a time because when you do that you would reduce the cost and be able to give more to the people for less money."

And this is only the first phase of the project - the second phase will see public servants and middle income families benefiting.

Families with higher incomes will be able to choose between 2 and 3 bedroom homes.