PNP demands greater accountability of the PM’s New Social Housing Programme
KINGSTON, Jamaica – The People’s National Party (PNP) says it is concerned after the Auditor General flagged the Prime Minister’s New Social Housing Programme (NSHP) for offering duplicated use of taxpayer resources to provide one essential need, housing.
According to a report from Auditor General Pamela Monroe Ellis that was tabled in the Parliament this week, housing is part of the Government’s social benefit programme in which the Prime Minister, Andrew Holness operated with little or no coordination and covered parts of the same benefits as other social programmes.
The report highlighted that the resources are distributed across the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development to provide the same benefit as the Social Housing Programme.
Junior Shadow Spokesman for Housing and Sustainable Living, Kevar Bennett charged that “the PM is using housing as one of its tools to squander tax payers money without delivering on its mandate which was to deliver 315 units per year.
“Since the Prime minister has taken office, he has only managed to build 286 houses over the past nine years which amounts to 31 houses delivered per year. This therefore renders the New Social Housing Programme (NSHP) inefficient, ineffective and lacking vision for the people of Jamaica,” said Bennett.
The AuG report also highlighted that between 2018 and 2024, the social housing budget allocation totaled $677.7 million, while the NSHP was allocated $3.4 billion. According to Bennett, these are “two different programmes that are supposed to deliver the same mandate yet lack accountability”.
“It therefore concerns the Jamaican people that the excessive budget is not adding up to the housing targets that ought to be delivered which affects the distribution of social benefits to the poor and most vulnerable.
“It is important to note that under a new PNP administration housing will continue to be one of our main priorities to deliver low income and affordable houses to our Jamaican people through the NHT (National Housing Trust) and using the PORTIA Initiative (Programme for the Orderly Renewal and Transformation of Infrastructure in All areas) as one of its flagship initiatives to transform the housing sector”.
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