Families to Start Receiving Housing Grants in Four Weeks

Jamaicans whose homes were damaged or destroyed during the passage of Hurricane Beryl should start receiving emergency grant assistance within the next four weeks.

“We intend to finish our assessments within the next week. We intend to finish our data entry within the next two weeks, and we intend to start the disbursement of relief within the next four weeks,” said Minister of Labour and Social Security, Hon. Pearnel Charles Jr.

He was addressing Wednesday’s (July 24) post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House.

The Government has allocated $1 billion to assist impacted householders to recover and rebuild.

Persons whose houses were destroyed will receive a grant of up to $400,000; those whose homes were severely damaged will receive up to $150,000; and those who experienced minor damage will receive up to $50,000.

The Minister said that assessments are 95 per cent complete, with 8397 houses evaluated as of July 22.

Of that number, 453 were destroyed; 3221 were severely damaged; and 4723 had minor damage.

The Minister said the Jamaica Household Disaster Impact and Needs Assessment Tool is the primary mechanism being used to assess post disaster household needs and conditions to determine the response provided.

Meanwhile, he thanked private sector stakeholders for the role they have been playing in the restoration efforts and urged them to indicate their support to the Ministry’s parish offices.

“Just give them the indication of what you are doing, where you are doing it so that it can be factored in as we collate all of the relief and the recovery efforts across the island,” he said.