15 families in limbo as homes demolished in SCJ dispute

SCJ Holdings Limited has been accused of committing a “wicked act” in demolishing the homes of 15 families at Innswood Estates in St Catherine on Saturday morning.

The families, who are third-generation occupants of the land owned and controlled by SCJ Holdings Limited, scurried to secure furniture, appliances, clothing, and other belongings just as a light drizzle started and bulldozers rumbled in about 7 a.m.

“We were forced out of bed by nuff police and men who didn’t even give us time to get our belongings together,” said 55-year old Margaret Jones, who has been living there all her life.

“All mi hear was knocking on mi door and somebody saying, ‘Time up!’ Government send we to bruk down the house dem,’” she added.

WATCH: Demolition in Innswood Estates

Crystal Walker was in distress, lamenting that she was unable to retrieve her passport, baby’s birth certificate, and other documents in time before her home was covered in rubble.

Walker, 34, said it was the kindness of one of the police officers who called a halt to the demolition that allowed her to grab some furniture and appliances. Even then, her refrigerator and microwave were damaged in the operation.

Residents disclosed that they were informed of their impending relocation from as far back as February 2020 when the first phase of the Silver Sun Estates, consisting of 1,200 detached single-storey residential housing solutions, was announced.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness was involved in the official handover of the first 200 units last July in the gated community that is being developed by Silver Sun Homes Limited – a subsidiary of West Indies Home Contractors Limited – under a National Housing Trust guaranteed-purchase programme.

The residents said they have been in dialogue with SCJ Holdings since the Silver Sun project started and were offered, at one stage, 30 houses on condition that they found 50 per cent of the unit costs.

However, that arrangement reportedly fell through and another agreement forged with SCJ Holdings for Food For The Poor to construct houses for them on Innswood Estates lands in McCooks Pen.

Calls on Saturday and Sunday to SCJ Holdings Managing Director Joseph Shoucair went unanswered.

Jones said that they were warned last Wednesday by SCJ Holdings to move by Friday, prompting them to seek a last-minute meeting with the managing director to hold off the bulldozers.

They were pleading for extra time to get their house in order, she said.

Jones claims that SCJ has not fulfilled its side of the bargain on housing standards in McCooks Pen.

“We don’t have a problem moving to where they are putting us, but we were promised that they would build the houses, put in roads, light, and water,” Jones told The Gleaner.

“But instead, they give us unfinished houses, open bathroom spaces, no running water, and no street lights.”