NSHP Continues to Tackle Housing Poverty – PM
By: , January 28, 2025
Photo: Michael Sloley
Prime Minister, Dr. the Most Hon. Andrew Holness (second right), cuts the ribbon to officially hand over a three-bedroom house to New Social Housing Programme (NSHP) beneficiary Paulette Brown (second left), during a ceremony in Blackness, Westmoreland, on January 24. Sharing in the moment are (from left) Ms. Brown’s daughter, Antonette Beharry ; Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Arlene Williams and Member of Parliament for Westmoreland Western, Morland Wilson (in background).The Full Story
Prime Minister, Dr. the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, says the New Social Housing Programme (NSHP) continues to tackle housing poverty on the island.
“As Minister of Housing, my job is to ensure that all segments of the housing market are being served and addressed, so the segment of the housing market that we are addressing today are those persons who need what is called social housing,” Dr. Holness said.
He was addressing the handover ceremony for NSHP beneficiary Paulette Brown, in Blackness, Westmoreland, on January 24. Ms. Brown received a three-bedroom unit, which was constructed at a cost of $9 million.
“[These are individuals] who are not working; they are indigent, they are probably elderly, they probably have large households that are living in dilapidated circumstances, where our social conscience would have said no Jamaican should be living [like] this, so it is considered housing poverty,” the Prime Minister said.
Dr. Holness noted that the NSHP was designed to aid some 6,000 Jamaican households that are in housing poverty, adding that this will not be addressed overnight.
“I can’t snap my fingers overnight and have all 6,000 houses built. It’s just not possible. What we do is establish a programme and we ensure that the programme is properly run and that the people who benefit are people who genuinely deserve to benefit and then after we do that, we make sure that we have a budgetary allocation,” he explained.
“When we started out, we were delivering one and two houses per week, now we are doing five, six and seven per week,” the Prime Minister said, adding that the number of units delivered per week could move to as many as 12 come next year.
Dr. Holness encouraged Ms. Brown to continue being a beacon of hope in her community, as “the taxpayers would want to see that this unit has transformed your life and, in turn, you are transforming the lives of others”.
For her part, Ms. Brown told JIS News that her new home was a complete departure from her previous dwelling and emphasised how grateful she was to the Prime Minister and Member of Parliament for Westmoreland Western, Morland Wilson, for their part in improving her living conditions.