ROOFS Beneficiaries Urged to Redeem Grants Before Code Expiry

Beneficiaries under the Restoration of Owner or Occupant Family Shelters (ROOFS) initiative are being urged to redeem their grants, whether for building materials or cash, before their digital codes expire.

“When you receive your text message or your QR code, it is not to be put on the shelf or in your pocket for weeks. The QR code and text message will have an expiration date applied to it,” Minister of Labour and Social Security, Hon. Pearnel Charles Jr., advised during Wednesday’s (March 11) post-Cabinet Press Briefing at Jamaica House.

He emphasised that the disbursement of grants under the ROOFS initiative is being carried out in batches, with the first group of beneficiaries set to receive approximately $5.22 billion through the digital payment solution, WiPay.

“You must now move with swiftness to go and redeem your code for material or your text message for material or for cash… do not sit down and wait. I would say [that] within the next three weeks, you should try your best to do your redemption,” the Minister stated.

During a special presentation, Mr. Charles triggered an approval notification message to the first batch of approved beneficiaries.

In a demonstration with beneficiary, Dorothy Williams, the Minister walked through the process – from receiving the confirmation message to generating a unique QR code – that enables recipients to redeem their grants for building materials or cash.

Chief Marketing Officer and Country Manager at WiPay Jamaica, Kibwe McGann, explained that once customers receive their code, either via QR or SMS for those without smartphones, they must visit one of several approved locations to redeem their grants.

“Our point-of-sale machines… will read the QR code, and… it’s going to pull up the beneficiary’s information. The instructions that the cashiers at those locations have is to then take the same machine, take a photo of the beneficiary [and] take a photo of their ID,” he outlined.

Mr. McGann noted that Ministry personnel will have access to a dashboard, enabling them to monitor redemptions in real time.

“So, at the end of the programme, we’ll be able to tell how many pieces of zinc, how much pieces of block [were issued]. So what you’re talking about is detailed, rich data, so that if something like this again happens, the Ministry will be able to make quicker assessments and know what kind of energy and money they’ll need to put out,” the Country Manager detailed.

Meanwhile, Mr. Charles noted that the list of approved hardware locations is included in the confirmation message received by beneficiaries.

He added that the list will also be published on the Ministry’s website and social media pages.

Mr. Charles emphasised that recipients must present a valid government issued photo ID in order to redeem their grants.

ROOFS is one of six components of the Shelter Recovery Programme (SRP), which has been allocated an initial $10 billion to assist households assessed as having sustained minor, major, or severe damage.

Beneficiary households were selected following more than 100,000 assessments conducted by the Ministry after the passage of Hurricane Melissa in October 2025.

Verification of households in need of assistance was conducted in collaboration with the National Spatial Data Management Branch to eliminate duplications and ensure accuracy.

To date, the Government has disbursed $108.5 million in grants for households in the minor damage category, $2.37 billion for those with major damage, and $2.74 billion for households assessed as having sustained severe damage.