"We are not Immigration to ask a foreigner interested in renting or buying a property if they have documents or not; that is the task of that agency, not ours.".
Taken from Listín Diario
SANTIAGO.- Middle and upper-class Haitians are acquiring properties in Santiago and other locations, a step that explains their decision to leave their country, shaken by kidnappings, insecurity, rising and insufficient fuel prices, food shortages, gang terror and other ills.
Haitians interviewed said that the situation in their country has become "unlivable".
Others rent homes in residential areas and populous neighborhoods, close to the city's urban environment.
They also buy plots of land to build homes.
Meanwhile, real estate representatives and owners of houses and apartments in Santiago said yesterday that, to rent and sell their properties, they don't care whether the tenants are Dominican or legal or illegal foreigners.
In this regard, real estate representative Jorge Díaz stated that when renting a house, apartment, rooms and studios, as well as carrying out sales transactions, they are only attentive to the requirements they demand of their clients, such as taking care of the maintenance of the properties, being punctual in the payments for rents and not using them for purposes other than living in them.
“We are not Immigration; to ask a foreigner interested in renting or buying a property if they have documents or not, that is the task of that agency, not ours,” he emphasized.
Interest in purchases
Meanwhile, José Mateo, who sells houses, apartments, and land, acknowledged that many Haitians are interested in buying properties and that this is important because the benefits for them increase.
He also stated that Haitians, when it comes to buying, are "more reluctant than Dominicans, and that this is a negative aspect, because many times deals fall through.".
For his part, the vice president of the Coordinating Committee of Community Organizations and Neighborhood Councils of the Southern Zone, José Alberto Peña, announced a meeting with the regional director of Migration, Dionisio Cruz, and the head of the Environment in the area, José María Díaz Tilía, to discuss the matter.
CRAMPED IN
TENANCIES
Jose Albedrto Peña said that many people have built boarding houses and tenements in neighborhoods of Santiago, to rent to undocumented Haitians, where they live in overcrowded conditions.
He revealed that the rooms have the capacity to house no more than three people, but in many, up to 12 or 15 people live crammed together, with barely a shared bathroom.
