Prime Minister Andrew Holness has endorsed container homes as a cost-effective solution amid plans to address the nation’s housing deficit and redevelop some aging communities.

Speaking at the launch of the Kingston Logistics Center (KLC) container homes programme on Wednesday, Holness lauded the initiative as a good business prospect noting that the greatest challenge would be trying to win over the Jamaican public.

Holness cited two segments of the housing market where he said affordable and easy to replicate solutions, such as container homes, were needed – aging and informal communities.

“Many of (the communities) were built 50, 60, 70 years ago, they are now at a stage where the buildings have reached their useful life and they are not necessarily providing shelter. The truth is they are more harm to the residents than they provide safety and shelter,” said Holness.

“And then of course, we have another segment of the housing market, which would be the irregularly settled lands right across Jamaica; informal communities. And we have to find an easily deployed solution for those two elements of the housing market. Because time is money and the longer you take to actually build the structure, the more expensive the structure will be,” he added.

He noted that container housing solutions have advanced significantly over the years, making it an attractive option for home seekers.

“I know that there are many persons who have lands… and they are looking at container solutions. They have seen the container solutions work for offices, in classrooms etc,” Holness said, adding “The technology has advanced sufficiently where whatever drawbacks there were for containers, we can now easily deploy them.”

The National Housing Trust plans to start construction for just over 35,000 homes by 2026, in keeping with the government’s plan to provide 70,000 solutions to the housing market within five years.