Holness: Gov’t to speed up social housing with increased budget, new technology
Published:Tuesday | January 9, 2024 | 12:09 AMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Prime Minister Andrew Holness, who also has portfolio responsibility for housing, has pledged to increase the budgetary allocation and introduce new building technologies to fast-track his administration’s social housing programme.
He said pre-construction solutions will provide a faster timeline and savings in the delivery of social and indigent housing solutions.
Holness argued that the construction materials that are now being used in building these social housing solutions are quite expensive, and newer methodologies and better technologies are needed.
“We have already started that process, to identify new building methodologies which we will be implementing in the near future to put up structures like these,” Holness said, referencing the one-bedroom house he presented to Norma Cooper, a 67-year-old resident of Lima, Adelphi, St James on Monday.
“There are options for pre-designed, pre-constructed housing solutions that can be just lifted and placed on site, which would remove quite a bit of work to build and the time. So those are options that we are going to explore specifically for single-person households and indigent persons where we have settled the land issue and all that is needed to just place a unit on site,” the prime minister said.
“Those options are up for discussion and implementation. In 2024, you are going to see more social housing, more beneficiaries like Norma Cooper, whose life we intend to improve and put a smile on her face,” Holness reasoned.
He said, with these new housing solutions and technology, more Jamaicans living in substandard conditions will benefit.
NEW TARGET
“We plan to increase the budget for the new social housing programme and the indigent housing programme this year, so that we can get more Jamaicans (having their own home),” Holness said.
“We are targeting to do more, at minimum 500 new social housing units this year, meaning (the) 2024/2025 financial year,” the prime minister announced, approximately two months ahead of the start of the next fiscal year.
He said his administration’s social housing programme is working and can withstand all levels of scrutiny, and that, of those who have benefited, their lives are much better off.
Cooper expressed gratitude to the government and to Edmund Bartlett, the St James East Central member of parliament, for the opportunity afforded with a new house.
She likened her new home to that of a hotel, pointing out that the construction phases have lifted her spirit.
“I am very grateful for this one-bedroom unit. When I come inside here, it’s like I don’t want to come out and it did not finish yet,” Copper noted.
“When I went inside the bathroom and turned on the pipe, I said to myself, ‘man, this place looks like it’s a hotel because I am feeling so good’,” she said.
Desmond McKenzie, minister of local government and community development, shared that the prime minister has demonstrated not only the willingness but the strength to pursue and deliver on the promises of social housing for the less fortunate of the country.
“It is a part of the rural development strategy of the Andrew Holness administration and I want to say, as the minister with responsibility for local government that also has responsibility for rural development, this fits into the wider programme that the administration is pursuing,” said McKenzie, who was on hand to support the prime minister.
“And, this year, not only will the prime minister be rolling out more of these houses but, under the Ministry of Local Government’s social housing programme in Chambers Pen (Hanover), we are going to be handing over another three houses in another two weeks’ time,” he noted.