LIVING CRISIS
Unfinished homes leave vulnerable families in squalid conditions amid NSHP delays
Published:Sunday | January 26, 2025 | 12:13 AMCorey Robinson - Senior Staff Reporter
When Valerie Wilmott and her daughter Jacqueline Rogers were promised a house under Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness’ New Social Housing Programme (NSHP), they were overjoyed. They readily agreed to demolish the bathroom of their severely dilapidated wooden home on Rosemary Lane in Kingston Central to make way for a new three-bedroom home with a functioning kitchen and tiled bathroom – luxury, as Rogers described it.
For them, it seemed like a small price to pay. Though Rogers, a diabetic amputee, and her elderly mother, who is bedridden and incontinent, would be crammed into a small space with four other adults and several children, they were willing to make the sacrifice. At the time, the idea of using their neighbours’ showers and toilets while the construction took place was uncomfortable, but manageable.
In the end, the new house would be theirs, so they quickly presented land titles and proof of tax payments for the property over the years in exchange for the promise of a more comfortable existence. Their application was successful and in October 2023, the demolition began and work commenced on their dream.
But Rogers said that although they were not given a specific timeline for completion, the family was hoping the construction would have been finished by now. For now, they are still waiting, without a structurally safe place to live.
The new house, like two other NSHP projects on nearby Rum and George’s lanes, remains unfinished due to delays. More concerning, they still have no bathroom, and their neighbours are no longer able to hide their discomfort as buckets of human waste are passed to them for disposal in their toilets.
Rogers’ grandchildren – ages four, seven, and two – were most courteous and bright last week. She fears for them, convinced that at any time, they could suffer a health crisis as a result of the poor sanitary conditions in their yard.
“I’m sickly so I have to use a bucket and beg them to throw it over [the neighbours’] bathroom. My mother wears [diapers], and the children are here and you know things can break out because of no bathroom and no facility for them to use,” whispered Rogers, taking quick, short breaths between sentences as she spoke. “We had a bathroom and a pipe, and now we don’t have any.”
A makeshift bathroom has been set up for the children to bathe, but the adults still rely on facilities elsewhere. Rogers, whose feet have been amputated, spends most of her time in bed and Wilmott, who suffered two strokes, is bedridden. They mostly “tidy”, and their waste is taken from their bedside – through a makeshift kitchen, pots, pans and plates strewn all around – for disposal next door.
In the meantime, their half-built NSHP house stands at the front of the yard, its modern columns contrasting with the ageing homes around it. But the unfinished structure is surrounded by rickety wooden scaffolding and abandoned cement buckets.
Behind the new house, the two adjoining rooms that currently house Rogers and her mother resemble a neglected hospital ward. Wilmott looked on from her bed, nodding and smiling at strangers, unable to speak; while Rogers, wrapped in bandages and visibly in pain, spoke as her eyes got increasingly more watery. They are both taken care of by Roger’s children’s father.
“I just want the help to finish up so that the children can get a bathroom to use. Because remember, they are children and there are all kinds of diseases – hand, [foot] and mouth disease – going around,” Rogers said, her voice quivering. “They are children. You want them to use their own bathroom, and you want to be there to monitor them. I just would like him (Holness) to help us out so that we have a bathroom that can be used in 2025.
“I just have to wait and be patient because I know that if God is in the vessel it will be done one day. I just have to be patient and trust God that it will be done,” said Rogers, noting that her mother expresses concerns about the lack of progress on the house daily, adding that various inquiries with representatives close to the project have come to naught.
Similar situation exists
A similar situation exists for 85-year-old Leonard Tucker on George’s Lane. Although he has the keys to his nearly finished NSHP house, he has been told to wait for a ceremonial handing over by the prime minister before moving in. Despite the house being mostly complete, there are still tiling, plumbing, and electrical works left unfinished, he said.
“They told me not to touch it, and that I not to get anybody to trouble it because it is the Government’s thing. And they are telling me that the prime minister is going to cut ribbons for me, hand over the key and them things there,” he said of the project, adding that in two years, it saw various contractors, workmen, and individuals claiming they were from government ministries. He was given a key to the premises in which building material is stored, and admitted that he has spent some nights there, particularly during periods of adverse weather.
The shack he now occupies is unsafe.
“That’s why, you see, I’m building a little board house behind it (the NSHP house) because I’m getting more and more afraid of this. At any time, this can come down on me,” he said of his current dwelling, the hole-riddled roof of which barely hung on to rotting rafters.
Residents claim the projects have stalled repeatedly due to disputes over payment to workers. Some believe the work stopped after the 2024 local government election, when the ruling JLP lost the mayorship of the Kingston and St Andrew municipality.
Last Thursday, Kingston Central Member of Parliament Donovan Williams directed queries regarding the delays to the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation. According to him, he was not privy to the specific issues, even though he rubbished the theories raised by residents of the communities.
“My assurance is that the residents will be getting their houses in a short while. You can write what you want to write, but the houses will be completed. They will be resuming construction, and in due time, they will all be getting their houses,” charged Williams as he confirmed that he had recommended the beneficiaries.
No potential timeline
for completion
He grew impatient when asked about a potential timeline for completion.
“Sir, the houses will be completed in a short time once the construction resumes. That is all I can tell you. I cannot [give a timeline] and I will not,” he said. “MPs, we do our jobs and we recommend, we look for the needy and we assess persons who have applied to us, we assess and then the ministry takes over. In fact, all we do is recommend and then we are out!
“I recommended them to get the assistance because of their status and the plight in which they were living. ... The houses had commenced and there were some glitches ... . In every programme, there are glitches, but once you overcome and move forward, that is great. I think the programme is great. Don’t you love the programme?”
Holness came out in defence of the NSHP in recent weeks after Auditor General (AuG) Pamela Monroe Ellis flagged it for offering duplicated services, noting a need for reform. It was one of six such projects identified by Monroe Ellis in her 64-page performance audit report on management of the Government’s social benefit programme.
The others are the Municipal Social Assistance Programme, administered by the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, a rehabilitation programme under the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, the Social Housing Programme (SHP), and the Constituency Development Fund, operated through the Office of the Prime Minister. The NSHP was the latest of them.
“We found that the various social programmes had similar objectives and overlapping functions, covering parts of the same areas of interest, with little or no coordination in the distribution of said benefits,” explained Monroe Ellis in the report.
In mid 2024, Holness said more than 300 units were expected to be built by year end, and that an additional 75 projects, or 242 units comprising 419 rooms, are expected to commence by the 2025-2026 financial year. According to the auditor general, between 2018 and 2024, the social housing budget allocation totalled $677.7 million, while the NSHP was allocated $3.4 billion.