TRELAWNY, Jamaica — Effective August, approximately 100 dwelling units will be delivered to indigent families across the island under the New Social Housing Programme (NSHP), the government has announced.

According to Prime Minister, Andrew Holness, with improvements made to the programme, contractors are now delivering the houses in a shorter time frame, compared to four years ago when the initiative was first rolled out.

Established in 2018, the NSHP is being executed by the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation through the Housing, Opportunity, Production and Employment (HOPE) programme.

Speaking at the recent official handing over of a three-bedroom house in Wakefield, Northern Trelawny to Brenda Grant, Holness said: “Already we have built 73 such units between this year and last year, the bulk of them being this year. We have improved the process … so now we will be able to deliver at least one or two houses every week.”

“We are still, of course, trying to innovate, trying to see how we can improve our administrative and bureaucratic processes to make sure that we can deliver these houses even faster,” he added.

The unit was constructed within six weeks at a cost of $6.5 million.

The prime minister said houses constructed under the NSHP is proof that the government is working to ensure that every Jamaican has a minimum and acceptable standard of shelter, despite their socioeconomic standing.

“Today the circumstances speak for themselves as to why we have to invest in housing and why we have to ensure that every Jamaican … has even a certain minimum standard of shelter,” the prime minister emphasised.

Holness noted that based on rudimentary sampling, it is estimated that about 10,000 households are in need of social housing intervention and the government is putting mechanisms in place to address as many as possible over time.

“We wouldn’t be able to do all 10,000 in a year or even two years. It will take some time. But what we want to do is to put the process in place so that we can start to address the most pressing ones and I believe we are now at that point where we can address the pressing needs,” he explained.

The prime minister also urged the recipient of the new housing solution to be an upstanding citizen in the community and an ambassador of the HOPE Programme.

Meanwhile, Member of Parliament for Trelawny Northern, Tova Hamilton, said this is the first unit to be handed over in her constituency under the programme. She lauded the government for he speed with which the unit was delivered.

In the meantime Grant, who will share the unit with three other relatives, expressed gratitude for her new home.

Overcome with emotions, she shared that she had been living in less-than-ideal conditions for 47 years.

“I give you thanks for this house. I don’t have anything to put in it yet, but by the grace of God, a going in,” she said.