No More Leaking Roof For Karen Campbell

Karen Campbell of Cedar Grove in Manchester no longer has to place buckets on her bed to catch water or sweep water from the floor of her house when it rains.

The fifty-five-year-old is the recipient of a new three-bedroom unit under the New Social Housing Programme (NSHP).

Prime Minister,  Dr. the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, handed over the keys to the joyful and proud homeowner during a ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday (May 9).

Ms. Campbell, who said she had been awake since 1:00 am, as her excitement made sleep elusive, expressed profound gratitude.

She noted that her living condition was “not up to date,” with leaky roof and makeshift zinc sheets.

“First of all, I must thank God for this. Hon. Prime Minister, I thank you  for supporting this programme for the needy and I thank you from my heart. I am so joyful and thankful ‘till I think my heart is going to burst. [Member of Parliament for Manchester Central], Miss [Rhoda Moy] Crawford, thank you for everything, the ups and downs, the paperwork at the office. The workers, thank you all for all that you have done for me,” she said.

Prime Minister Holness,  in his remarks, noted that the NHSP has been the answer for persons like Ms. Campbell, who, due to  extreme poverty or unfortunate circumstances have no means of improving their living situation.

“They can’t purchase a house on the open market and when they are assessed, their housing condition would be below the standard acceptable by our society. To determine that, we put in place a very rigorous beneficiary identification system,” he pointed out.

Outlining the criteria for selection, the Prime Minister said, “we look at the beneficiary’s employment status, size of household, age, number of children in the household – all of which form part of the determination of need”.

“We also do a social investigation where we speak to the members of the community to learn whether they are genuinely in need and actually participate in and contribute to the community,” he noted further.

“Once we clear that hurdle, we determine whether the beneficiary has access to land because the programme does not provide land. We build on land that the beneficiary already has access to,” the Prime Minister explained.

After establishing that there is permission to use the land, the procurement process is undertaken during which a contractor is selected based on competitive bidding.

Construction follows, which takes up to three months and thereafter the house is handed over.

“The process is transparent so that the public can see government in action,” the Prime Minister noted.

Meanwhile, the Government’s commitment to delivering 70,000 housing solutions is well underway with the National Housing Trust (NHT) tasked to build  45,000 houses, the Housing Agency of Jamaica (HAJ), 14,000, and another 10,000-15,000 solutions will come from the Greater Bernard Lodge Development.

A new project in Inswood, St. Catherine for which a master plan is being developed, will contribute several thousands more.

The Urban Development Corporation (UDC) has also come on board with lands to construct some 4,000 housing solutions.