Over $600M Disbursed in St. James Under MLSS ROOFS Programme

Grants worth $619 million have been disbursed to residents in St. James, under the Restoration of Owner or Occupant Family Shelters (ROOFS) programme, as of February 26.

The total represents 1,436 recipients out of the 13,628 applicants who registered for assistance through the programme.

Parish Manager, Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MLSS), Georgia Taylor, made the disclosure during the Emergency Operation Centre deactivation meeting held on Tuesday (March 3), at the St. James Municipal Corporation.

“A total of $619,225,000 was disbursed in benefits to these persons. Of that, 257 persons were severely damaged and received cheques of a total of $200,000. Fifty-one persons received cheques for minor damages, which is a total of $75,000 each, and 1,128 persons received cheques valuing $500,000,” Ms. Taylor said.

The parish manager commended the collective effort of councillors across St. James, who assisted with the project.

“I just want to say thank you to all the councillors who really assisted us. Some of them volunteered their time and for those who couldn’t, they assisted us when we called them, they were able to direct us, or they assisted us by providing volunteers, so a big thank you,” she added.

Based on the data collected, Ms. Taylor informed that the East Central St. James constituency had the highest number of reported damaged homes of 4,258.

The handover ceremony for the grants was held at the West Jamaica Conference Centre in St. James, with attendance from the Minister of Labour and Social Security, Hon. Pearnel Charles Jr.

ROOFS is part of the overall Shelter Recovery Programme (SRP) and has been allocated an initial $10 billion to assist households assessed as having sustained minor, major, or severe damage.

Under the SRP framework, individuals may access support through six initiatives –ROOFS grant, government‑led repair, partnership‑led repair, National Housing Trust (NHT) support, deployment of modular housing solutions, and relocation or regularisation.