THE National Housing Trust (NHT) is moving to install the first 2,500 of 5,000 semi-permanent modular units on sites with pre-existing water and sewerage systems, which is expected to cut construction timelines significantly and deliver homes far sooner than initially planned.

Assistant general manager for corporate communications and public affairs at NHT, Dwayne Berbick, who was speaking at a Hurricane Melissa press briefing on Wednesday, said the NHT has shifted its strategy to prioritise lands that can support rapid installation.

He explained that the first phase of the Rapid Housing Deployment Initiative will be anchored on NHT-owned properties that are already close to development readiness in areas affected by Hurricane Melissa.

“Our construction and development team, we’re currently assessing the status of lands — especially in the St Elizabeth, Westmoreland and Hanover areas — and we’re looking at where we had plans for housing development and there may already exist some amount of supporting infrastructure for sewage, for water already, to see how quickly we can finish that infrastructure and have those units set up,” he said.

Berbick explained that the semi-permanent homes were chosen after which technical evaluation, noting that engineers looked for designs that satisfied local building codes, offered energy efficiency, and homes that could withstand severe weather events.

“We landed on an expanded polystyrene EPS prefab unit and it lends itself for rapid on-site assembly, so that was one of the key considerations that we looked at. And it includes a steel frame and it’s supported by insulated panels — which is a nice way of saying they allow for cooling so the units do not become excessively hot and they’re able to withstand certain degrees of weather resistance as it relates to earthquakes and, of course, hurricanes. Affordability, again, is also a key factor in terms of what we looked at in determining these units,” he said.

Describing the components of the modular homes, Berbick said the two-bedroom units, each approximately 400 square feet, come pre-wired for electrical installation and include bathroom, kitchen, and living areas.

The prefabricated approach, he said, means less on-site labour and shorter wait times for families whose homes were destroyed or structurally compromised.

“They have supporting windows, of course — for additional ventilation to support the cooling panels that they are already insulated with — and two metal doors — pre-wired — so [that] facilitates easy installation. [There is] not much that is required thereafter for electrical support [as] the plugs and supporting electrical infrastructure, that’s already there,“ he said.

While the first 2,500 units are being prepared, the NHT is also sourcing additional land for later phases.

“We’re not just restricting this programme to the lands that the NHT currently has, but we’re also looking at acquiring additional lands in areas that can support us getting housing needs to our contributors. And I dare say it’s not just the contributors of the NHT that would benefit from this initiative…but we’re also collaborating and partnering with other government agencies — especially those who are involved in social housing initiatives — to ensure that some of the units get to those agencies and get directly into the hands of the individuals who are in need,” Berbick added.

Hurricane Melissa caused widespread structural damage across western and central Jamaica, displacing thousands and overwhelming existing shelter capacity. In response, the Government tasked the NHT with leading medium-term housing recovery efforts. The Rapid Housing Deployment Initiative forms part of a broader package that includes disaster grants, peril insurance support, and targeted mortgage relief.