KINGSTON, Jamaica – Five deserving families in Manchester, who lived in substandard conditions, have received brand new homes just in time for Christmas.

Prime Minister, Andrew Holness, on Friday, December 16, officially handed over keys to the units, which were built under the New Social Housing Programme (NSHP).

The beneficiaries are 69-year-old Tesselyn Roach, from the Freetown district in the North Western section of the parish, whose house was destroyed in a fire four years ago that also claimed the life of her two-year-old granddaughter. She cut the ribbon to a three-bedroom house.

Also in the constituency, 64-year-old Violet Johnson, whose daughter died earlier this year, will live with her four grandchildren in a three-bedroom dwelling at Comfort Hall.

In Central Manchester, two single mothers became the first recipients in the constituency under the NSHP.

They are Stacy-Ann Stevens, a mother of five from Knockpatrick, who received a three-bedroom house, and Naderia Wood from New Hall, who will also be moving into a three-bedroom unit with her three children.

“I am very grateful to be sitting here. Sometimes it doesn’t even feel like it is real,” an emotional Wood said.

“I’m not even happy for myself right now… I’m happy for my kids, that they can sleep in a comfortable house and have a roof over their heads,” she said.

“It is the Christmas [season] and the time is cold. They don’t have to feel cold like what we’re experiencing where we stay right now,” she added.

Married couple from the Lancaster district in Manchester South, Telford and Yvonne Mitchell, also received a one-bedroom house.

Mitchell said the house in which he and his wife lived had deteriorated over time, despite their best efforts. He expressed gratitude for the new home.

“They say that the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. Today, you saw it possible to give me the first step and I will continue making the other 999 [steps],” he said.

Residents from the respective communities, who came out to celebrate with the new homeowners, noted that they were deserving of the housing assistance from the Government.

Prime Minister Holness, in his remarks at the handover ceremony in Knockpatrick, said that the positive feedback from the community members is proof that the NSHP programme remains credible.

“This Government, through the institutionalisation of systems, procedures and management is ensuring that State resources are distributed on a transparent, accountable and fair basis and that they are distributed by virtue of the assessment of needs,” he noted.