Building Support Programme and Six-Month Moratorium on NHT Mortgage Payments

The Government has announced a building support programme and set of relief measures by the National Housing Trust (NHT), including a six-month moratorium on mortgage payments to help families rebuild in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa.

“Across the island, our first priority has been to deliver food, water and medical support to every affected community, but we know that beyond these greatest essentials, the greatest need is now shelter. Too many of our brothers and sisters have lost the very roof over their heads,” said Prime Minister, Dr. the Most Hon. Andrew Holness.

“To address this urgent need, I am announcing a building support programme for households in the most affected parishes and this will be an MP (Member of Parliament) driven programme,” he noted.

The Prime Minister was making a statement in the House of Representatives on November 4.

He informed that $10 million will be allocated to each constituency in St. Elizabeth, Westmoreland, Hanover, St. James and Trelawny.

“For St. Ann, Manchester and Clarendon, $5 million will be allocated to each constituency. For the other constituencies, $3 million per constituency. I think it is a fair distribution based upon everything that we have to go through. We will send the letters out,” Dr. Holness said.

He pointed out that the NHT will grant an automatic six-month moratorium on mortgage payments for mortgagors in the parishes worse affected by Hurricane Melissa.

The parishes are St. Elizabeth, Westmoreland, Hanover, Trelawny, St. James, Manchester and St. Ann.

Dr. Holness said the measure will benefit some 20,000 homeowners.

For all other parishes, the NHT will continue to consider individual moratorium applications for those who have lost income or face special hardships.

He pointed out that the Trust has activated a comprehensive package of support measures to help its contributors and mortgagors recover from the devastation caused by Hurricane Melissa.

“I wish to remind the public that all NHT mortgagors are insured under the Trust House Owners Comprehensive Policy, which covers damage from hurricane, storm, flood, fire and other perils. The NHT has already mobilised its branches islandwide to help mortgagors prepare and process their insurance claims quickly and efficiently,” he said.

The Prime Minister further noted that the Trust will introduce a special home improvement loan of up to $3.5 million at an interest rate of two per cent available to both existing mortgagors and contributors who need to repair or rebuild their homes.

Additionally, he said the NHT will provide a special grant of up to $500,000 to contributors to repair damage to their homes or those of immediate family members.

The Prime Minister indicated that grants will be awarded based on demonstrated need and the level of impact, “so this is an assessment based grant”.

“We are also working with our international partners and the private sector to identify housing solutions that can be rapidly deployed at scale across most parishes. Minister Montague is working on that. There are some really viable prebuilt, prefabricated housing solutions, they may not be block and steel, but they are very durable and can be rapidly deployed as shelter solutions,” he said.

Dr. Holness announced that an additional $1.5 million will be allocated for MPs to use for emergency response.

“In addition to the $1.5 million that had already been allocated to each constituency before the hurricane, which was for emergency relief, food, medicine, tarps and so forth, I’m announcing an additional $1.5 million for MPs to use for the emergency response, but this one would be mostly focused on food and medicine,” he said.