Prime Minister Holness seeks land purchases to expand housing programme

By Ainsworth Morris

KINGSTON, Jamaica, (JIS) – To provide more housing solutions to the most vulnerable and needy, prime minister, Andrew Holness, is calling on persons with land in developed areas to approach the government for consideration for purchase; during his address at the handover of two-family housing units constructed under the New Social Housing Programme (NSHP) in the hilly community of Greendale district, Bull Bay, St. Andrew East Rural, on October 21.

“[The] appeal is to people who are landowners who may not be using the land, or they may have migrated and are not seeking to return to use the land, that they could, if they are so moved, make the land available to persons who would like to build on it,” Holness said. “In my opinion, this is a good way to achieve social justice and equity, because some of the issues that we face today is about settlement, and there are many Jamaicans who had no endowment, meaning they have no asset that they would have gotten as an inheritance from their parents or their family, and they are seeking to have endowment, which is why we see this increased number of cases of illegal irregular settlement of land; what we call squatting. So, this is one way in which that could be addressed.”

Prime Minister Holness said if people have land they aren’t using and have no intention of using it, they should make it available to the government.

“Approach the government and say, ‘We would probably like to sell you this piece of land because it’s there; it’s good for housing’,” he added. “Acquiring more usable lands for the NSHP will help to moderate some of the social tensions that currently exist in the society.”

The prime minister also reiterated that under the NSHP programme, recipients need land, or access to land, with permission from the owners, through a long-term arrangement by lease or ownership. “Once they have outright ownership or a long-term lease, then the government will build the shelter itself,” Holness said.

Meanwhile, Speaker of the House and member of parliament for St Andrew East Rural, Juliet Holness, brought the issue to the fore in her presentation, noting that there has been difficulty in constructing houses under the NSHP in her constituency because of the locations of the needy persons, the hilly terrain, and the persons not owning the land.

The Speaker of the House appealed to persons to approach the government with lands suitable for housing, stating:

“I am appealing to residents here in Jamaica or abroad who have legitimate good-quality land that you could offer for the benefit of those who need land, because we have been looking and we are struggling to find appropriate space for persons to be able to benefit.

“I do not want even one opportunity for a house for a resident to go, because we can’t find suitable land, so those who have and are willing [to sell], let us know by calling the office, send an email, call or reach out to anyone in the community who can get to us, because we need suitable land for this New Social Housing Programme. We don’t want a single house to go to waste,” the Speaker of the House, said.