PM admits need for more spacious and affordable housing units

 

Prime Minister Dr. Andrew Holness says the National Housing Trust has been mandated to construct housing units with adequate size and space. 

 

Homeowners have been complaining about a cramped space in the new units. 

 

Dr. Holness agreed that the quality and size of the houses must be improved.

 

"We have seen houses built that can only be described as a matchbox. We have seen houses built that can only be described as ovens. We have seen houses built that you can only go in and turn around and come back out. Somebody said you can only go in and reverse. And we have said to the NHT that housing is more than just having a roof over your head. 

 

"Housing is about the dignity of people, the pride of people, the convenience of the people, the comfort of the people. And at the end of the day, it must be an asset for the people. So we have to step up the game in the houses that we build. We have to integrate new technology to make sure that we are keeping up with modern times but using the technology to mitigate some of the conditions that exist in the environment," the Prime Minister acknowledged. 

 

He admitted that the government is struggling to meet the high demand for affordable housing.

 

"There is simply a demand and supply problem. It is a supply problem actually. There is not enough houses. One line of effort in this regard in dealing with the supply side issue is that we need contractors who can build and build fast. And we have been working with our local contractors and we have struck up good relations with the Henan Fifth Group, with China Harbour as our foreign partners who have come to support housing construction in Jamaica," he noted.

 

Prime Minister Holness was speaking Friday at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Brookside Estate Housing Development in St. James.