KINGSTON, Jamaica – The stewardship of the New Social Housing Programme (NSHP) under the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, is being hailed by Prime Minister Andrew Holness.

He said that the Ministry has strong systems and procedures in place to monitor and guide the process.

“We have strong policies, strong laws, and effective management to ensure that any form of State subsidy, any form of transfer is done on a fair, equitable, efficient, transparent and accountable basis,” he pointed out.

The Prime Minister noted that beneficiaries are not selected based on their political affiliation.

“There is no favouritism, no nepotism, no partisanship in the selection of beneficiaries…I want to make that clear,” he said, during the handover of a three-bedroom house in Knockpatrick, Central Manchester on Friday, December 16.

The Prime Minister noted that beneficiaries are primarily selected, following a recommendation from their Members of Parliament, after which the oversight committee of the NSHP examines the income of the household and ensures that the current housing structure is substandard.

“So, in terms of the management of the resources, we have been very strong on that. We have been audited [and] we ensure that all audit reports are up to standard,” he pointed out.

A total of five houses were handed over to deserving families across Manchester on Friday.

In Manchester North Western, where houses were handed over to two grandmothers, Member of Parliament, Mikael Phillips, lauded the work of the NSHP team.

“It is good when agencies have persons who are committed to the task that they have been given and I want to commend the team that has to deal with the housing programme and to say ‘thank you’ for making this a reality,” Phillips said.

For her part, Member of Parliament for Manchester Central, Rhoda-Moy Crawford, told the two single mothers, who received three-bedroom units in her constituency, that the NSHP is a testament of the Government’s care and commitment to “making your lives better.”

Over 120 houses have been delivered across the island under the NSHP and 34 units are currently under construction and at various stages of completion.

The NSHP operates under the Housing, Opportunity, Production and Employment (HOPE) Programme, through the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation.

The initiative, conceptualised by the Prime Minister and implemented in 2018, aims to improve

the quality of housing for Jamaica’s neediest citizens.

It targets the relocation of residents in vulnerable communities, giving priority to people in imminent danger, and the upgrading of tenement yards, one in each of the 63 constituencies.