Every Jamaican Must Be Given Opportunity to Live in a Decent House – PM

Every Jamaican must be given an opportunity to live in a decent house, says Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness.

Speaking at the recent handover of a three-bedroom unit in Elgin, Clarendon, Mr. Holness said after assuming office in 2016, he ensured that the then social housing programme was revised to deliver quality houses to the beneficiaries under the New Social Housing Programme (NSHP).

“The programme is not about your political affiliation, it doesn’t matter; what we want to achieve is, every Jamaican, regardless of the colour you were born with, or the colour you choose, you should be able to live in a decent standard of housing, and that is what I want to achieve,” the Prime Minister said.

Noting that the programme is at the point where “we are going to allocate more money to the project”, Mr. Holness said it will ensure more houses, and “put more smiles on faces”

A contractor programme will shortly be instituted for the training of builders to improve their competencies, so that the NSHP can be scaled up, and provide needy persons with improved and quality houses, he said.

Mr. Holness also noted that a programme to use Government lands to cluster persons benefiting from the programme will also be implemented.

The NSHP operates under the Housing, Opportunity, Production and Employment Programme (HOPE), through the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation.

The initiative is geared at improving the housing condition of the country’s most needy population.

It consists of three modalities: provision of indigent housing, with 315 housing units (five per constituency) constructed per annum; relocation of vulnerable communities, which give priority to persons in imminent danger; and upgrading of tenement yards (one for each constituency).