KINGSTON, Jamaica – Minister without portfolio with responsibility for Housing, Water and Works, Dr Horace Chang, says that the Housing Agency of Jamaica (HAJ) will be restructured to focus on public/private partnerships (PPP’s).

 Dr Chang, in a news release today, said that the government’s move was to make the housing construction organisation viable.  

“In the medium term we will be looking at a completely different agency, because government’s involvement in housing construction over the years has proven not only unsatisfactory, but at some point it becomes characterized with nepotism and corruption,” said Chang.

According to the housing minister, the agency would now administer the Housing Act and provide effective construction monitoring of these areas.

He added that the HAJ will ensure that the titles are ready quickly and mortgages from the National Housing Trust (NHT) can move smoothly to the beneficiaries. With this mechanism Dr Chang hopes that the traditional levels of alleged nepotism associated with the sector will be reduced.

Chang also revealed that since he took office early last year, the HAJ has “moved off the dependency list” and has been made operationally viable.

He noted that several projects which have been dormant were resuscitated and completed, and individuals are now acquiring these homes.

Chang said that approximately 400 individuals will benefit from the first phase of the Green Pond Housing development and The Savannah, which are now on the market.