NSHP Ribbon Cutting Ceremony in Lime Tree Gardens, St Ann
Address
By
Dr the Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, PC, MP
Prime Minister of Jamaica
At the
NSHP Ribbon Cutting Ceremony, Lime Tree Gardens, St Ann
On
October 10, 2025
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We have 304 units completed under the New Social Housing Programme; that’s 697 rooms benefiting over 1,500 individuals so that’s a massive impact on homelessness and persons who don’t have shelter in the country. We have another 86 units that are presently under construction, that’s 186 rooms and we have 65 units that will start construction this year so that would be another 173 rooms.
The New Social Housing Programme has picked up pace and Jamaicans are benefiting from it. The programme in my estimation is a success. Jamaicans understand the programme, they see the benefits, they identify with the programme and persons who are now currently either homeless or in really deplorable shelter conditions, they have hope they can look forward to this programme. The objective now is to expand the programme and increase the pace of delivery.
Today, we’re merely just handing over houses that were already entrain, already being constructed, but for the next budget year, we’re going to revise the programme because we want to ensure that more Jamaicans who are in need can get access to the benefit of this programme quickly. We’re going to be examining the use of prefabricated and pre-constructed housing unit. For example, this housing unit is a one-bedroom solution. We could easily have used a pre-constructed solution that could have been brought here on a trailer, installed by crane, and it would still have a very long useful life, sometimes up to 30/ 40 years.
The challenge with that, of course, is to get those units through the terrain. Sometimes roads are not wide enough. Sometimes there are bridges to cross and sometimes the path to the housing solution is not in a state where cranes and large and heavy equipment can come. But nevertheless, we do have sites that are suitable for that so we intend to integrate this into the New Social Housing Programme so we can deliver more houses more quickly.
We are going to be increasing our focus on the New Social Housing Programme from the construction of individual units to looking more at big yards. We call them tenement yards and looking at constructing more units on the sites that we have because that will reduce the construction cost to us and help to deliver more units. We’re always seeking to improve the project, improve the programme, and increase the benefit to you.
We’re pleased that the current beneficiary, Neville Barrett can have this home, and I am hopeful that this will improve your living conditions. Let me repeat that though Mr Barrett is getting the house free of cost on his land, nobody can take away the house from him. It is his house. He will have his title to the land. The house is not free. You who have gathered here: his friends, relatives, and neighbours who are celebrating with him today are also the taxpayers who would’ve contributed to the cost of this house.
And every one of you who wouldn’t be celebrating this house, in the back of your minds, some of you are saying, why couldn’t it be me, and so because you have a vested interest, you’re not envious of the house because he deserves it so you’re happy that he got it. But you are also saying now that he has it, and I could have benefited from it, he better use it properly because you don’t want the benefit to be wasted, and therefore, though the house is free to him at your cost, we have to protect your interest in the house and so we ask the beneficiaries to sign what we call a social contract effectively, which is to say that Mr Barrett will maintain the house in condition or better than he got it. So, when you pass here and you see a taxpayer money, you say he deserved it and he did well with it.
Secondly, this house is for your residence. I’m not going to come back here and see Neville bar. You’re going to live here. Or when I pass by and say where’s Neville and they say Neville doesn’t live here anymore. Neville rent it out. I’m happy to hear you wouldn’t do because if you rented it out, we could have given it to somebody else who really need it. That’s part of the social contract, that you will live here and you won’t rent it out.
And of course, this is a government house essentially, in terms of building it and the programme under which it was constructed, everything about the programme therefore has to be legal. Meaning you have to have legal light and legal water. You will notice in this programme, I am seeing some concrete poles put up and they have actually gone the length to bring electricity up to your house to make sure that you have legal light and legal water, so everything has to be legal.
And if further fortune were to smile on you and your granddaughter, let’s say she won the lottery and decided that she wants to expand the house and put on a room and go upstairs; we are very happy for you and we would certainly want you to do that but before you do that, you must get the approval of the New Social Housing Programme through the Ministry of Housing, and of course, the necessary building plans and approvals from your parish council because this house is built to a certain specification and we want to ensure that if you will modify the house, you won’t damage the house.
Those are essentially the terms of the social contract, but most important, Mr Barrett, having received the house you commit to continuing on the path of being a good citizen in your community. You are obviously an elder, someone who would’ve seen life and therefore you have the experience and wisdom to guide those who are about to experience life and we want you to continue to be a good elder in the community. Those are the terms, and if you agree with them, then we ask you to make your mark on the social contract.