Prime Minister Andrew Holness yesterday (July 17) handed over another housing unit under the New Social Housing Programme (NSHP) in Bogue District, Braes River in North East St. Elizabeth.

The Social Housing Initiative, which was announced by Prime Minister Holness in November 2018, was developed to improve the housing condition of the country’s poor and indigent population.

The NSHP falls under the Housing Production and Employment Programme (HOPE) in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation.

Prime Minister Holness says the NSHP is part of the government’s mandate to reform and expand the housing agencies to afford housing to Jamaicans of all economic backgrounds.

“My presence here today in handing over this home in a rural district in St. Elizabeth in the sugar belt, is to bring the rest of Jamaica to the understanding that regardless of what you see on the surface and circulating, there is a real Jamaica, with a real economy, with real people facing real challenges with a very effective Government that is very caring and is attending to the real needs of the people,” said Prime Minister Holness.

The Prime Minister stated that his Administration remains focused on the needs of the people. “Your Government [and] your Prime Minister is not distracted from doing the things that matter, to protect you from the threat of pandemics, to protect you from crime and violence, to look at your needs in housing, to look at your infrastructure needs, to look at your water needs, and to ensure that the economy can continue to deliver the opportunities and indeed recover stronger,” said Prime Minister Holness.

Furthermore, Prime Minister Holness underscored that the NSHP represents the government’s care for the most vulnerable in the population.

“Mr. Wint is a senior citizen, he has several disabilities, there may not be anyone to properly take care of him, but he too needs attention, he too deserves the attention of his government and that is what this represents,” said Prime Minister Holness.

The beneficiary, Winston Wint, is 88 years old and has disabilities. He received a one-bedroom home constructed at a cost of JMD 5.9 million. The unit has a living area, kitchen, and bathroom. It is connected to a septic tank and has a connection for potable water and electricity.

The NSHP consists of three modalities; provision of indigent housing, which will see 315 housing units (five per constituency) constructed per annum; relocation of vulnerable communities, which will give priority to persons in imminent danger; and the upgrading of tenement yards (one for each constituency).

At present, five units have been completed under the NSHP, including the transformation of an Annotto Bay tenement yard.