KINGSTON, Jamaica — Opposition Spokesman on Housing and Sustainable Living, Professor Senator Floyd Morris, has criticised the Government over what he described as its failure to distribute containerised houses intended for people affected by Hurricane Melissa, despite assurances that the units have arrived in Jamaica.

In a release on Monday, Morris said it was unacceptable that, nine months after Hurricane Melissa destroyed the homes of thousands of Jamaicans, not a single family had received one of the 5,000 containerised houses the Government had committed to purchasing.

“It is a disgrace,” Morris said.

He argued that the Government had repeatedly revised the expected arrival date for the houses after initially indicating they would be in the island by January 2026.

“Since then, there have been several revised arrival dates until, in May 2026, we were informed that more than 500 houses had arrived on the island. This announcement came only after I asked at an Opposition press conference, ‘Where are the houses?’” he said.

Morris said similar concerns were raised during several Senate debates on the legislation establishing the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA), as well as debates on the continued annual extraction of $11.4 billion from the National Housing Trust (NHT).

“On each occasion, we were assured that the houses were already in Jamaica. Yet, to date, not a single one has been delivered to any citizen,” he said.

Morris said the Government owed Jamaicans an explanation for the continued delay in distributing the houses.

“Why, after indicating more than a month ago that the houses had arrived in the island, has not a single citizen in the affected areas received a containerised house? This is both scandalous and disgraceful,” he said.

The Opposition spokesman is also calling on the Government to explain what is causing the delay, when and where the houses will be distributed, how the distribution process will work, what role Members of Parliament will play in determining beneficiaries, the criteria that will be used to determine eligibility, and whether the houses will be sold or provided free of cost to affected citizens.

“The people affected by Hurricane Melissa deserve more than promises. They deserve action, transparency and the dignity of knowing when they will finally receive the assistance they were promised,” Morris said.