Gov’t Committed to Fair Distribution of Houses for the Needy

Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, says the Government is committed to finding a balance in how housing solutions are distributed to needy Jamaicans.

Mr. Holness, who was speaking to reporters in Retirement, St. Ann on August 19, following the handing over of keys to two beneficiaries of the New Social Housing Programme (NSHP), said the commitment includes facilitating provisions for the working class, low-income earners, and persons seeking affordable solutions.

“The target price for that market would be anywhere between $8 million and $10 million, or below. There is also an element of the housing demand market which is really underserved. These are persons who have no income, or they are working, but at a minimum wage. These persons deserve housing solutions, and, in fact, they will be described as the most vulnerable; included in [that group] would be persons with disabilities,” he stated.

The Prime Minister pointed out that “they also include persons who are elderly… persons who have suffered some catastrophic event… [and persons who, in no way, can afford these houses at any market price].”

Mr. Holness said these are some of the issues he must grapple with as the Minister with responsibility for the National Housing Trust (NHT), noting that it has always been about “service over self.”

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister said NSHP beneficiaries must go through a selection process solely based on needs as opposed to partisanship or affiliation.

“There is a sense in the country that whenever governments do these kinds of social welfare… social safety net intervention, there is some unfairness involved… that it is given to people who know someone… given to the friend of someone… [which] is not the case,” he noted.

“We have put in place all the measures necessary to ensure that the beneficiaries are needy,” he assured, adding that “there is a process which includes the Member of Parliament [who] usually would have a pretty comprehensive network within a constituency to be able to identify needs.”

Mr. Holness indicated that he is familiar with the attendant challenges, pointing to his own constituency where he said hundreds of persons are also in need of housing.

He emphasised, however, that even if the Member of Parliament (MP) wanted to make a recommendation based on party affiliation, the system is set up in manner where that call would not be automatic or the end all.

“When the selections are done, it is not the MPs that make the final decision. We have put in place a committee that takes all the recommendations of the MPs [into consideration], and they examine them much more closely. They do social investigations. They come and they look, and they then decide [whether] the person who’s getting the benefit is actually [truly in need, and deservedly so],” the Prime Minister outlined.

Mr. Holness, in this regard, said he was confident that the process is transparent and fair, adding that “the people who are benefitting are all Jamaicans who need the benefits.”

Six residents in St Ann got keys to their own homes under the NSHP from the Prime Minister on August 19.

The beneficiaries, three of whom lost their previous dwellings to fire, are from Cave Valley, Goshen, Retirement, Sturge Town and Bamboo.