Women among largest beneficiaries of Friendship Oaks service lots, says PM

WESTERN BUREAU:

Two low- to middle-income earners are among several contributors to the National Housing Trust (NHT) who are now the happy new owners of a piece of Jamaica after receiving credentials to their service lots from Prime Minister Andrew Holness recently.

Sedane Daley, a 26-year-old mixologist employed to Appleton Estate Rum Tour in St Elizabeth, says now that he is armed with a parcel of land through the NHT, he has a solid base on which to advance his plans towards owning a home.

“Getting this service lot will now enable me to start building my house early and prepare to start a family,” Daley said, while clutching his newly acquired service lot documents in the Friendship Oaks Housing Development of Goshen, St Elizabeth.

“Personally, this is one of my biggest achievements,” the mixologist told The Gleaner. “As a young individual, it’s really good to set your goals and make sure that the future is secure.”

Dream taking shape

Shanice Campbell, a 30-year-old administrative assistant at the Southern Regional Health Authority ( SRHA), who resides in Mandeville with her relatives, welcomed the opportunity to be among the residents who will be building their dream houses in Friendship Oaks.

“This is a great initiative by the National Housing Trust, and I am happy for the opportunity to know that I will be among friends in Friendship Oak,” Campbell stated.

She told The Gleaner that now that she has her credentials in hand, her dream of owning her own home is taking shape.

“I have always dreamt of owning or having undisturbed access to a piece of property for my family because home ownership is something that almost all of us as Jamaicans dreamed of, so I am happy that I am now on my way towards fulfilling that dream.”

The two new landowners were among several people who received their credentials on May 17.

Holness, who has portfolio responsibility for the NHT, says women are among the majority of those who received service lots in phase one of the Friendship Oaks Housing Development.

He said the NHT was doing this development on 36.8 hectares of land comprising 256 housing solutions of which phase one will comprise 150 one-bedroom units, 106 residential service lots, and eight commercial lots.

According to the prime minister, public-sector employees and members of the disabled community will benefit from 15 service lots, which are reserved for these contractors.

“Therefore, 91 contributors were selected, (and) of the 91 contributors selected, 64 per cent were female, so this is going to a scheme where the women dominate, as is largely the case in the society,” said Holness, who was delivering the keynote address during a handover ceremony for service lots inside Friendship Oaks in Goshen, St Elizabeth.

He said 53 per cent of the 91 beneficiaries are among those within the middle- to low-income bracket and are earning wages between $42, 000 and $100,000 weekly.

Along with that, Holness said 36 per cent of the selectees would have a mortgage with interest rate of between zero and two per cent.

“Of note, 67 per cent of the selectees are young adults between the ages of 25 and 40. A further 33 per cent of the selectees work in accounting, administration, and clerical fields. Twenty-two per cent are in religion and education fields,” the housing minister shared.

More housing solutions

At the same time, Holness said the Government would be investing in and building out 4,108 housing solutions between now and 2030 in St Elizabeth.

He said these solutions are not just plans as they are at varying stages of execution.

“We have the Malvern Housing Development. This will be an NHT scheme. It will have 30 solutions. They are service lots, and they are scheduled to be completed in 2025,” Holness said.

Holness also shared that there will be 60 service lots in the Kensington Housing Development, which will come to market under the developers programme in 2026.

In 2027, there will be 150 one-bedroom housing units available in phase one of Friendship Oaks.

“Again, in Friendship Oaks, in phase two under the developers programme, we have 543 solutions. These are one-bedroom and two-bedroom units and service lots. These will be completed in 2027,” Holness told residents gathered at the Friendship Oak service lots handover ceremony.

Continuing, he revealed that in the Luana Housing Development, under the developers programme, there will be 360 housing solutions made up of one and two bedrooms, and service lots, which are slated for completion in 2028.

“In Gilda, under the developers programme, we have 2,425 housing solutions comprising one-bedroom and two-bedroom housing solutions and service lots, (and) that’s slated for completion in 2029,” the prime minister said.

“We have Holland Estate, which will be an NHT housing scheme of 540, and these will be detached studios of one-bedroom and two-bedroom units and service lots, slated for 2030,” he added.