Fair Allocation of Houses

Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Hon. Dr. Horace Chang, says housing allocation will be done in a manner that is fair to all Jamaicans.

Speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony for a National Housing Trust (NHT) project in Shrewsbury, Westmoreland, on March 24, Dr. Chang, who has responsibility for water, housing and works, said the Government is committed to ensuring that all Jamaicans have access to a quality home throughout Jamaica.

“The NHT will be taking on this responsibility to provide quality housing in a very dynamic way, to ensure that all Jamaican workers and, in fact, all Jamaicans, can begin to look forward to owning a home,” he said.

Dr. Chang pointed out that Westmoreland is still having what he called “the remnants of the plantation economy”, where many of its residents lived in small wooden homes on the margins of plantations.

“As sugar declined in areas where it was planted, and as the plantations also declined… many of these people ended up living in inadequate housing in areas which were marginal to major economic activity,” the Minister explained.

“So, therefore, it is part of a commitment as a Government to start that transformation. It means getting people to own their homes and own their little piece of the rock in this country,” he said.

“We have adopted policies which we expect to ensure that the execution of developing large number of houses will be done with integrity, with transparency and at an affordable price,” Dr. Chang said.

The Minister said that one of the things the Government will be guarding against is the hiking of prices at the expense of NHT contributors.