Editorial | Plan container homes

Having earmarked more than J$2.6 billion for the purchase of container homes for victims of Hurricane Melissa, it is important that the government outline a clear and transparent strategy for where and how they are to be erected, lest the programme compromises the opportunity that storm has opened for the structured rebuilding of some of the island’s vulnerable communities.

The put it bluntly, the administration has to ensure that the proposed container dwellings don’t merely become sturdy replacements for the crude shacks of rusty corrugated zinc and arbitrary bits of wood, or for even the reasonably well-constructed houses that form the core of too many of western Jamaica’s multitude of informal settlements. Many of these settlements are in places that are ecological sensitive and/or dangerous for human habitation. In other words, setting up the container homes must be in sync with a sensible and rational spatial policy.

For an avoidance of misunderstanding, this newspaper fully appreciates the pressure on the government to address the shelter needs of people who were affected by the October 28 hurricane.

Even before Hurricane Melissa, a Category 5, swept across western Jamaica with winds of 185 mph, the island faced an acute housing problem, with an estimated shortfall of 150,000 homes.

The hurricane severely worsened the housing crisis. It damaged over 156,000 homes, of which 24,000, or approximately 15 per cent of those affected, were completely lost. A large portion of the rest received major damage.

More than 900,000 people, a third of Jamaica’s population, were affected. Many of them are still living rough, some in shelters cobbled from the remnants of their homes; others in official shelters, or cotching with friends and family.

PART OF THE CONTEXT

That was part of the context in which Prime Minister Andrew Holness last month announced that the National Housing Trust (NHT), a home financing and development agency funded by a payroll tax, would acquire 5,000 container homes, some of which will be sold by the agency to its contributors, and others distributed as social housing.

The specific details of that initiative have not been disclosed. However, a supplemental budget that the finance minister, Fayval Williams, presented to Parliament this week, proposed the expenditure of J$2.623 billion “for the purchase of containerised folding units for hurricane affected purchase”.

It is unclear whether this central government-financed initiative is separate from NHT’s scheme. Prior to the hurricane the trust, whose assets total nearly J$450 billion, had projected, according to government budget documents, its capital spending for the current fiscal year at $46.63 billion.

Whoever finances the scheme, it is expected, given the circumstances, that the project will move relatively quickly. Indeed, domestic builders have already begun lobbying for a fair chunk of any government contracts to set-up the container houses, as well as for building traditional concrete structures.

But even in a situation of urgency, the government must be clear and precise of how it proceeds, making sure that a fast fix to an immediate crisis doesn’t set the stage for future ones.

The finance ministry’s updated expenditure statement specifically identifies “folding units” as the type of container units Jamaica intends to buy. Such units, when they are up, are no different from the 20-foot and 40-foot containers used to ferry goods around the world on merchant ships.

But when they are not filled with cargo, by removing a couple of bolts and an internal supporting bar, they fold onto themselves, providing an economic advantage to shipping lines. A collapsed and stacked on each other, several folded containers utilise the space of a single regular box. And given that ships often have several empty containers onboard as they sail from port to port, space is freed to carry more cargo.

GAINING ATTENTION

While collapsible containers are not yet the mainstay of the shipping industry, they are increasingly gaining attention as a technology that is viable shelter solutions, especially in disasters. Their collapsability, it is felt, lessens their sense of permanence, a concern when containers are used as intended temporary housing after catastrophes.

Unlike flapping fabric tents that deteriorate relatively quickly, containers, built from steel or other metals, are durable. And if internally finished, fitted with utilities, and set, or bolted, into concrete foundations for stability, people can, and often do, perceive them as permanent homes, rather than temporary shelters.

The downside in such cases is that the disaster victim’s initial idea of rebuilding, or the urgency thereof, begins to recede. Sometimes, too, policymakers, like the people in shelter, are overtaken by, and become trapped in, an environment of the perceived normality. Further, having paid expensively for the structures, governments may worry that the expenditure will become a sunken cost, when there are competing demands for its limited resources. It may be tempting in those circumstances to avoid disrupting settled dwellers in sound homes.

At the same time, in the urgency of crisis, normal planning requirements – an area in which Jamaica has not excelled – also tend to fade into the background. The Holness administration must avoid this with respect to the container homes.

Creating the basis for future slums, or allowing people to build in fragile environments, must be resisted. Which Prime Minister Holness has indicated his government will do. We take him at his word.