Joy, relief as PM presents senior with new home
Published:Thursday | July 21, 2022 | 12:11 AMCecelia Campbell-Livingston/Gleaner Writer
Albert Logan was so excited about the prospect of finally owning a good house that after seeing a tent being erected, signifying that the ceremony was eminent, he could not eat or sleep until yesterday’s handover ceremony.
The emotional Logan told those who turned out yesterday to witness him receiving the keys to a house constructed in Trout Hall Pass, Clarendon, under the New Social Housing Programme, that his life was difficult in his previous dwelling.
“When I inside the house, when rain a fall, di little stove deh right here, and if rain a fall, mi caan go to the stove and if mi go to the stove, mi haffi stand up deh a while,” he said. “So if rain a fall fi di whole week, a feel it, and mi cry and seh, ‘God, I wonder if the people dem memba about me.’ ”
He expressed profound thanks to Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Clarendon North Central Member of Parliament Robert Nesta Morgan for his one-bedroom dwelling, built at a cost of $4 million.
Although no furniture was in the house as yet, Logan declared that as soon as the function was over, he was going inside to sleep, triggering laughter from the audience.
Morgan said that he recommended Logan for a house after seeing the condition in which he was living when they first met as he campaigned for office.
“It hurt me that in 2020 a Jamaican could be living in such conditions, but I had hope because I knew that when I became member of parliament, I would have an opportunity to help Albert and many other persons in North Central Clarendon,” he said, noting the tremendous impact of the programme.
Logan was the first of two recipients yesterday as Opal Manning of Wood Hall in Clarendon also received a three-bedroom house, built at a cost of $7.2 million.
In his address, Holness stressed the importance of ensuring the right people receive the units.
“What we try to ensure to do is to ensure that the benefit goes to the most needy. We consider the age of the applicant, we consider the household, current situation in which they live, whether they have income, and if children in the household are of school age,” he said.
Holness said he was satisfied that all 75 houses built under the programme thus far have gone to people who are genuinely in need.
“Just to say that we estimate that there are about 6,000 persons who are living in substandard conditions and very soon, we will be doing 500 to 600 units per year in ensuring that the worst of the worst housing conditions are addressed in Jamaica,” said the prime minister.