The National Housing Trust (NHT) says it has already paid out $324 million in housing grants to 810 applicants, as it works to clear a backlog of nearly 1,000 applications, while acknowledging that verification challenges in several parishes have slowed the pace of payments.

The disclosure was made on Wednesday during a sitting of Parliament’s Public Administration and Appropriations Committee where legislators pressed the agency for clarity on timelines and questioned delays being experienced by contributors approved for assistance.

Providing a breakdown of applications by parish, NHT Managing Director Martin Miller told the committee that demand has risen sharply in recent weeks, particularly in areas hardest hit by Hurricane Melissa. According to Miller, St James recorded 617 applications, St Elizabeth 794, Westmoreland 303, and Manchester 225, underscoring the scale of the response required.

“The last time we were here, we would have received 754 applications. [Up to] yesterday, we would have received 2,573 applications. Our total applications processed to date is just below a thousand…995 [and] total payments made to date, 810, to a tune of $324 million,” Miller said.

He explained that while applications have been received across multiple parishes, processing has not moved at the same pace everywhere. In St Elizabeth, for example, the NHT has processed 360 applications and completed payments for 251 of them, but progress in other areas has been slower.

Westmoreland, in particular, presented early logistical challenges, Miller said, as teams struggled to reach affected residents during the initial stages of the programme.

“I want to park Westmoreland a little because we are having some challenges, certainly in the early stages, in terms of us being able to get to the affected persons, so we had to use various mechanisms,” he told the committee.

A major factor contributing to delays, the NHT said, has been the need to verify ownership or lawful occupation of damaged properties, especially in rural communities where formal land titles are uncommon.

“If you are from rural Jamaica, you recognise that houses passed down from one generation to another generation. So you may not be in possession of a title. So we had to come up with other mechanisms, such as the use of a JP [justice of the peace], a recognised principal, or something to that effect,” Miller explained.

The verification process has also been tightened after the NHT uncovered cases of fraudulent claims, including situations in which applicants did not reside at the properties they claimed were damaged.

“We saw cases, and just to mention, one development which is close to Central, St James, where some of the claims that we received when we went out there, the persons who were claiming, they did not live there. So we have to do our verification,” Miller said.

Under normal circumstances, the NHT said it aims to move applications through the system quickly once all documentation is received, with site visits and validation completed within days.

“All things being equal, the process was one where we were hoping that having received all the documentation in three days, we would have been able to go out to the site, do our verification and whatever validation in less than a week, and then to submit to the central point which is in head office for payments,” Miller told legislators.

Pressed by Member of Parliament for St James Central Heroy Clarke on how long contributors should await approval, Miller said payments are expected within three working days, once approval is finalised at the branch level.

However, Miller cautioned that confusion often arises over what constitutes approval, as applicants may believe the process is complete before verification and validation checks are finished.