PM Announces $330-Million Special Housing Response Programme

Cabinet has approved a $330-million special housing-related response programme to assist persons to undertake minor house repairs.

Prime Minister, the Most. Hon. Andrew Holness, who made the announcement in the House of Representatives on Tuesday (November 21), said that each constituency will be allocated $5 million.

“The idea behind this is to target those households that are vulnerable to weather, particularly leaking roofs or compromised wooden structures, to assist with the replacement of zinc sheets that are compromised, windows or ply sidings that are compromised,” he said.

“This programme is not designed to build a new house or rebuild a house. It is really small housing grants/assistance,” Mr. Holness pointed out.

The Prime Minister urged Members of Parliament (MPs) to utilise the funds to assist as many households as possible, targeting in the region of 100 households per constituency.

“This programme will be administered through the Ministry of Housing. The reason why we are going through the Ministry of Housing is that there has to be some amount of inspection… verification of need, and the entity that has the staffing for that is the Ministry of Housing,” Mr. Holness pointed out.

Meanwhile, he informed that additional support of $3 million will be provided for the three constituencies that have been designated as being severely affected by Potential Tropical Cyclone 22.

These are East Rural St. Andrew and East and West St. Thomas.

“And, by virtue of the clamour that we are hearing from other MPs, we will go back to the drawing board and see whether we are able to extend any further assistance to constituencies that may not be severely affected, but [may] have been impacted above the average,” Mr. Holness added.