NSHP Ribbon Cutting Ceremony in Brandon Hill, Clarendon
Remarks
By
Dr the Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, PC, MP
Prime Minister of Jamaica
At the
NSHP Ribbon Cutting Ceremony, Brandon Hill, Clarendon
On
October 10, 2025
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We have another 86 units that are currently under construction and further 65 that will begin construction this year. The programme is moving a pace. We want to increase the speed at which the houses are delivered so we are going to contemplate some new building technologies and some new housing products that are, by virtue of the advance in housing technology, now more accessible and affordable and the only challenge we have is that the programme is site specific. We build the houses in almost any area where the land is available once we can get the material to the site and the site does not pose an environmental hazard or risk. Right here, it’s a good piece of land, but it’s literally almost inaccessible. We had to make a pathway and cut a road to actually build here so those solutions that we’re thinking of which are prefabricated housing solutions that come ready built and with amenities that you load on a flatbed and deploy with a crane, possibly wouldn’t be able to work here.
In situations like these we would be constrained to build on site, but where we can deploy those solutions, we will deploy them so that more people can get the benefit but tonight, Joycelyn, you will be resting your head in your own home and we’re very happy for you. The house comes with certain obligations. It’s your house, don’t let anybody tell you any foolishness about the house is not yours. It is your house, but we have asked you in agreeing to receive the house to also agree to a social contract.
Social contract is relatively simple. The clauses in the contract, first, we require that you maintain the house in the condition that you receive it. Everybody would agree with that. This house is built for your residence so you’re not going to go rent it out and go live with your daughter. This is where you must live.
If further fortune were to smile on you and you decide that you wanted to put on an additional room, we would be very happy for you, but the house, as we said, is built site specific so we wouldn’t want you to make any modifications without consulting with us first so that we can advise you the best way to make any modifications to the site; that’s critical.
We want you to get legal light and legal electricity. This is a unit that was built by the government so it is not just the architecture that is an example to the community but the people who live in it must be an example so we couldn’t use public funds to give you this house and then you would turn around and illegally abstract electricity and water; that wouldn’t be a good example. We want you to be as well a good citizen that continues to uphold the law in the community and to be the ambassador for good in the community. So, once you agree with those clauses, then I invite you to sign the social contract, which will be witnessed by Richard Cargill of the New Social Housing Programme.