Gov’t To Increase Delivery Of Units Under New Social Housing Programme
By: , February 4, 2022
Photo: Yhomo Hutchinson
Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness (right), cuts the ribbon to hand over a two-bedroom house to Lloyd Edwards (left) at 5 Grant’s Pen Avenue in St. Andrew on Wednesday (February 2). The unit was built under the New Social Housing Programme (NSHP). Looking on (from left) are Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Audrey Sewell, and Member of Parliament for St. Andrew North East, Hon. Delroy Chuck.
Photo: Yhomo Hutchinson
Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness (right), cuts the ribbon to hand over a two-bedroom housing unit to Shirley Leon (second left), at 14 Shortwood Lane in St. Andrew on Wednesday (February 2). The unit was built under the New Social Housing Programme (NSHP). Others sharing the moment (from left) are Councillor for the Barbican Division, Joy Cotterel, and Member of Parliament for St. Andrew North East, Hon. Delroy Chuck .The Full Story
Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, says that the Government will be increasing the number of houses made available to Jamaicans under the New Social Housing Programme (NSHP) in the new fiscal year.
The Prime Minister said that solutions, coming out of the recent low-cost housing design competition, will now be utilised to deliver units faster and at an affordable cost, to ensure that as many of the estimated 10,000 families, as possible, that are living in less-than-acceptable conditions, can be provided with decent shelter.
He was speaking at a ceremony to hand over a two-bedroom house at 14 Shortwood Lane in North East St. Andrew on Wednesday (February 2).
The unit was one of two handed over by the Prime Minister in the area on the day, with the other located at 5 Grant’s Pen Avenue.
Mr. Holness said that the unit at Shortwood Lane was built at cost of $4.7 million in two months.
“We are now at the phase where we can scale up. By the end of the year, we would have completed another 100 or more of the units, rapidly, because we now know how to do it and what to do,” he noted.
Mr. Holness invited the private sector to support the programme, by assisting families in communities where they do business.
“We will be able to deploy solutions that are inexpensive for the budget of some private-sector companies, but would be the greatest thing ever to happen to some families.
“So, there is an opportunity for the private sector, who would want to fulfil their corporate social responsibility,” the Prime Minister said.
The Prime Minister also called on the beneficiaries to take care of the units and serve as examples in their communities, so that “everyone else’s life around you can be better”.
The NSHP was established by the Prime Minister in 2018, to improve the housing condition of the country’s poor and disadvantaged population by providing quality, affordable and sustainable housing.
The programme is being implemented by the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation through the Housing, Production, and Employment Programme (HOPE).
The Government has, so far, constructed 116 rooms in 46 units under the programme, with 26 more units under construction.