Hanover’s Miller-Bennett launches roof replacement initiative
Published:Saturday | January 17, 2026 | 12:08 AMBryan Miller/Gleaner Writer
Western Bureau:
With several of her constituents still without roofs on their homes, some nine weeks after the devastation caused by Hurricane Melissa, Heatha Miller-Bennett, the member of parliament (MP) for Hanover Western, has started an initiative to help affected persons replace their missing roofs – a key to restoring comfort.
According to reports out of the constituency, the affected families are forced to endure sleepless nights as the existing conditions provide neither security nor comfort, which has made their lives quite miserable.
Speaking a recent monthly meeting of the Hanover Municipal Corporation, Miller-Bennett said that, while the Government has announced an assistance programme to help the affected families, the promised help has been slow in coming, which has prompted her to start her own initiative in her capacity as MP.
“Yes, the Government has announced an assistance programme, and we have been encouraging persons to go to the Ministry of Labour to ensure that the damage to their homes get recorded,” said Miller-Bennett. “However, that is taking an inordinately long time, and so we have started an initiative, which is dubbed [the] ‘fix my roof initiative’.”
Bennett said that, since the launch of the initiative she is spearheading, overwhelming support has been pouring in from persons in the diaspora, local businesses, persons in the constituency and persons from outside of the parish.
“A few persons have gotten benefits from this fix my roof initiative,” said Miller-Bennett. “We have partnered with hardware stores, but we are having a challenge because of the shortage of supplies, especially roofing material. Zinc and nails are in short supply.
“Just this morning I spoke with two of the hardware store owners in the area, enquiring when they will be getting more materials, and I was told that they have been promised for next week.”
In a bid to ensure that the persons with the greatest needed are accommodated, Miller-Bennett said she is depending on the four councillors in the constituency to assist in providing the names of the persons from across the constituency so that a comprehensive list can be put together.
SUPPORT
“We have been getting lots of support for this initiative, and this is good because it adds to the little bit that we have gotten from the Government through social housing, which is under J$1 million so far within our community development fund,” she said.
Speaking with The Gleaner after her presentation, Miller-Bennett said six persons have benefited through the initiative so far from a list of approximately 200 persons.
“There are some persons whose situation is dire, that I have been trying to get some immediate help for to get a full house. We have got support for at least six so far, to help them to build back their house or to get a container house,” she said.
Miller-Bennett said that, while much effort is going into the initiative, she remains in dialogue with the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, seeking to find out how soon they will be helping with fixing back some of the roofs of affected homes, which are still in the state that they were left in by the hurricane.
“We are still getting complaints from residents in some areas that they have not yet been visited for assessment by any Ministry of Labour official,” she said.