IRWIN, ST JAMES — An ecstatic Kenisha Dixon was among 50 homeowners who got keys to their houses in Unions Acres, at Irwin in St James, Wednesday, having qualified under the recently introduced Special Young Adults Policy.

Under the initiative which took effect July 1 this year, the National Housing Trust (NHT) has given a commitment to allot at least 10 per cent of its planned units to individuals under 36 years old.

“I’m extremely proud and happy about the decision of the Government to include young people as a part of this NHT allotment they gave to us. A lot of young persons are contributing a lot to our nation and I do believe that we do deserve housing or any other benefit, [just like] our elders,” Dixon told the Jamaica Observer.

She works in the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector and is grateful that younger individuals like her will have enough time to pay off their home loans and “contribute further to the future of Jamaica”.

“My children are extremely happy, and I can’t wait to actually put that key inside that door,” Dixon said with a huge grin.

Fellow homeowner Racine Brown was also grateful that young people like her can now partner with two others to get a home, unlike years before when there was a limit of two beneficiaries per house.

“They have made homeownership for young people a bit easier because they have so much opportunities — we can now partner with siblings and so forth,” she said excitedly.

Like Dixon, she could not hide her elation at becoming a homeowner.

“It feels great! I mean, it’s something that everybody aspires to as Jamaicans and so I am thankful to the NHT for this opportunity,” she said.

The 144-house Unions Acres is a joint initiative by the Government of Jamaica, Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU), and Jamaica Civil Service Association (JCSA). The project, for which ground was broken in 2022, is the fulfilment of a promise that has spanned several political administrations.

As Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness explained during his keynote address at the handover ceremony, in 1992 the Government of the day was unable to increase civil servants’ salaries to the level they deserved, so instead the unions negotiated future benefits in the form of access to housing. It was not until years later that the first project, Union Estates in Twickenham Park, St Catherine, was completed. Unions Acres Irwin, for which ground was broken in 2022, was the second project. It missed a few deadlines and is not yet fully completed, but has still been executed a lot faster than the first development.

“The first project started in 1997; so from 1992 to 1997, what was the problem? The government bureaucracy to simply transfer the land from the Government to the unions to demonstrate ownership — just to move the lands off the Government books to the unions,” Holness told the gathering.

“To this date, some of the lands pledged have not yet been transferred [because of] government bureaucracy — not my Government, to be clear,” he added.

He said Union Acres is just one example of projects which were started decades ago but never completed until now, under the Government he leads.

“I find myself in this position — not only having to do new projects and bring new things to the table [but] I [also] spend a lot of my time trying to bring to closure many projects started by previous governments and not completed,” the prime minister stressed.

He pointed to the move to Republic status and the establishment of the Order of National Icon, posthumously to be awarded to Bob Marley and Louise Bennett, as other examples.

“All that I have mentioned are projects started by other administrations 30, 40 years ago. It is my task to complete them or bring them to a point of completion so that the civil servants who made the agreement 32 years ago can finally have the benefit,” Holness said.