New apt complex to replace squalid Hanover Street tenement
Published:Friday | August 8, 2025 | 11:59 AMLivern Barrett/Senior Staff Reporter
The outdoor pit latrine and wooden houses with zinc roofs are testament to the squalid living conditions for nearly two dozen families in the small tenement yard in the heart of Jamaica’s capital city.
The tenement, located at 41-43 Hanover Street in central Kingston, is home to 83 people from 21 households, including Dhiama Forbes, mother of three, who has called it home for 17 years.
“Fi see you live in a yard with pit toliet and dem things deh, nobody nah live in a dem sup’n deh no more. A modern time now,” she told The Gleaner yesterday.
Forbes and the other residents are set to get a major transformation in their living conditions with construction of an apartment complex named The Havens.
The $189-million project is being undertaken under the Government’s New Social Housing Programme and is scheduled to be completed next August.
It will comprise three studio units, a one-bedroom unit, six two-bedroom units and 11 three-bedroom units, according to Arlene Williams, permanent aecretary in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation.
Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness led the signing of the contract for the project and broke ground for the start of construction during a ceremony yesterday.
Holness, citing advice from the project architect, said the new development will “comfortably” house 18 families.
“So that means we are going to have to figure out how we support the other families,” he said, making reference to the three other households that reside at 41-43 Hanover Street.
Pride, dignity, hope
Still, Williams lauded the project that has families already anticipating the significant upgrade in their living conditions.
“We are building not only safe and decent homes for you to live in. We are building back your pride, your dignity, and your hope for a better, brighter future for yourselves and your children,” she said.
Forbes, who is one of the beneficiaries, said the project is greatly appreciated “because we a come from far”.
“Some of us don’t have an inside toilet and a bathroom; water buss (burst) inna di yard; we have pits that we can’t fix, so we really appreciate it,” she said.
Tamara Stewart, another beneficiary, heaped praise on Holness and Kingston Central Member of Parliament Donovan Williams for pushing a project that she said would be life-changing for so many.
“You are giving us back hope, [and] you are giving us back our dignity. No longer we have shanty shacks, zinc fences, and dilapidated buildings,” Stewart said.
“We can look forward to comfortable housing structures where we and our families can lay in at nights. Mr Prime Minister, you don’t know how glad I am. My heart is overjoyed.”
Stewart said the citizens of central Kingston would ensure the safety of “every worker and every equipment that is placed on this site”.
Holness said it was a “grand coincidence” that the project was being announced amid the heightened political campaigning.
“There are those sceptical persons saying, why am I doing this right in the season? They are all programmed, and I can’t stop them because of politics because the people need the benefits,” he said.