4,500 New Housing Solutions for Westmoreland

Approximately 4,500 new housing solutions are coming on stream for Westmoreland, Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, has announced.

Speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony for the Sheffield Palms housing development in Retreat in the parish on Friday (August 11), Mr. Holness said that several key projects will be undertaken that will reshape the housing landscape in the parish and improve the living conditions of residents.

Among the projects under development are Shrewsbury Phase 1 to provide 32 housing solutions and the Savannah Park project, with 41 housing units.

Prime Minister Holness also unveiled projects that are slated to start in 2024 and 2025.

“We have Shrewsbury phase two with 27 housing solutions. We have Orlands, 520 housing solutions… we have Paradise, with 2,453 housing solutions and that’s projected to start next year,” he indicated.

“We have Negril Spot, with 1,040 [units] that are under development and we are projecting a 2,025 start and we have Fontabelle, with about 325 units and we are projecting a 2,025 start,” he added.

Acknowledging the strides made under the NHT, Prime Minister Holness noted that 3,000 housing solutions have already been successfully constructed in the parish.

Among these are Shrewsbury Phases 1, 2, and 4, through which a total of 615 housing solutions have been delivered, while Frome and Meylersfield, collectively, have provided 895 housing units. Additionally, the White Hall development has added 748 housing solutions to Westmoreland’s housing inventory.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Holness underscored the Government’s intent to broaden the scope of housing solutions across the island through the Guaranteed Purchase Programme (GPP).

Under the initiative, established in November 2018, the NHT agrees to purchase, for its contributors, all or portions of units in housing developments done by real estate developers.

Prime Minister Holness said the upcoming Silver Sun Estates in St. Catherine will provide 1,200 housing units, and Roseneath Park, also in St. Catherine, will introduce 140 detached two bedrooms.

Additionally, Catherine Estates will contribute 825 units, consisting of 367 duplex studios and 458 one-bedroom units, while 41 one-bedroom units will be built in Savannah Park, Westmoreland.

Brompton Manor in St. Elizabeth is preparing to unveil 53 two-bedrooms and one three-bedroom unit; with Howard Avenue in Kingston offering 248 studio apartments.

“In Spot Valley in St. James, there are 240 one-bedrooms and 178 two-bedrooms; at Carlsberg Estate in Clarendon, 105 one-bedroom units, and at Chantilly in Westmoreland we have 135 two-bedroom units. So, you can see that the programme is taking off. In total, that’s about 3,226 units in all under that programme and [it] continues to grow,” Prime Minister Holness said.