LAND titling issues are severely hobbling Prime Minister Andrew Holness’s ambitious New Social Housing Programme (NSHP), with urban Members of Parliament (MP) particularly affected.

This was highlighted during Tuesday’s meeting of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) at which several MPs spoke to the challenges they are facing.

Committee Chairman Julian Robinson, the MP for St Andrew South Eastern where some of the Corporate Area’s most expensive and prime real estate is located, revealed that he had not even bothered to submit an application as those in need are basically squatting on the lands they occupy.

“I haven’t been able to benefit from the New Social Housing Programme primarily because, while there are many in need, the issue of land tenure [is a problem]. The persons who need the homes have no tenure at all. They’re what we would call squatters,” said Robinson.

He asked permanent secretary in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation Arlene Williams whether there was any mechanism under which government-owned land is available for needy individuals to benefit, “Because the people who usually have tenure are not necessarily the ones in need, but the ones in need have no tenure.”

Robinson pointed out that in urban communities, multiple individuals usually settle on a piece of land, “and you can’t really pick out one and say you going to build a house for one when everybody is pretty much in the same situation and everybody would want a unit”.

He told the committee that in St Andrew South Eastern it’s almost impossible to get approval to construct social housing on privately owned lands because they are generally prime lots and the owners, “are not going to give permission for that kind of thing because at some point they want back their land to generally do commercial-type developments”.

With each MP allowed to submit five applications annually, the Member of Parliament for Clarendon South Western Lothan Cousins questioned why only 292 units have been completed since 2018 when the programme was rolled out.

He said that MPs “are hesitant to make recommendations” as not all applications have been approved.

Williams raised the land tenure issue but added that incomplete applications were also part of the problem.

“I would have to look to see, to what extent those applications that were submitted met the stipulated requirements, because the truth of the matter is, I still would have to credit the programme for its performance,” Williams said.

“It started in 2018 as being approved by Cabinet… and we had actual units being delivered in 2020. And while we say 292 units have been constructed we still have an additional 46 units which are at varying stages of the procurement process, and another 75, I think, which are going to commence the process during this financial year. So, that will give you a more fulsome picture as to how we are performing,” she said.

“We try as best as possible… to look at the applications when they come — and we do not see colour because indeed, the project oversight committee is chaired by a technocrat and we have civil servants on there…” Williams added.

“The land matter continues to be an issue, so when we speak I just really want it to be in a holistic way because we do make every effort within the ministry to ensure that we are meeting the demands that are there within our budgetary allocation,” the permanent secretary added.

The committee heard that only 57 of the 63 MPs have submitted applications, and Robinson suggested that until the land tenure issue is resolved, it makes no sense for him to do so.

Franklin Witter, the MP for St Elizabeth South Eastern, and St James Central MP Heroy Clarke, also spoke to the absence of land titles, with Clarke going further to point out that in some rural parishes, hilly terrain makes construction expensive.

“We must also understand that many times the lands that are available to those persons are very hilly and so the cost to even prepare the foundation to put down that house goes beyond the amount of money that it would take to construct the house,” said Clarke.

“The cost to bring the material to where the house is to be constructed is beyond reason,” he added.

With his constituency straddling both rural and urban areas, Clarke acknowledged that people seeking to own a house in an urban neighbourhood may never be able to do so.

Meanwhile, Williams acknowledged that the matter of tenure has been a persistent problem with which the ministry has been grappling. She said that under the NSHP, one of the most common modalities is the single-detached unit whereby beneficiaries “have to come with their own land – either they own the land or they have permission …to use the land”.

“This continues to be a problem because not many persons own the land or have permission to use the land,” said the permanent secretary. She told the committee that the ministry has been in touch with the commissioner of lands and will be “rolling out its land bank” as part of efforts to solve the problem. She also pointed out that some vulnerable people may have to be relocated despite their reluctance to do so.