‘To God be the glory!’
Six St Ann units delivered under New Social Housing Programme
Published:Saturday | August 20, 2022 | 12:09 AMCarl Gilchrist/Gleaner Writer
“To God be the glory. Great things He hath done”, rang out several times on Friday as six needy residents in St Ann got the keys to their own homes from Prime Minister Andrew Holness under the New Social Housing Programme.
The beneficiaries are in Cave Valley in St Ann South West, and Goshen, Retirement, Sturge Town and Bamboo in St Ann North Western. Three of the homeowners had lost their previous dwellings to fire.
Holness said that the Government was doing its best to ensure that limited resources are equitably distributed.
He promised to address concerns at the National Housing Trust later on, “except to say that the Government is always seeking to be equitable in the distribution of public resources. There are always groups who would want to see their interests maintained, but the Government has to look across all groups and make sure that wherever public funds are being used, they are being used efficiently and equitably”.
Lost home to fire
Fifty-five-year-old Hyacinth Williams of Retirement district, who lost her home to fire on Boxing Day in 2018, was happy that her prayers were answered when the keys to her new house were handed over on Friday.
“This day means a lot to me. I never experienced this yet, but to God be the glory. Great things He hath done,” she told reporters.
“I’m so glad. I’m so excited about my new house because I never knew this could have [been] turned over to me. I cried and I prayed days upon days, but I always trust God and always try to be like Job,” she added, referring to a man in the Bible whose faith was repeatedly tested. “I’m feeling good. I’m feeling excited and I give God thanks to the team and everybody.”
Prior to her receiving her new house, Esmyn Bembridge of Goshen district had received a new structure to replace a dilapidated one.
“I feel good,” the elderly woman said of the occasion.
She added that although living in the old structure was rough, she never complained, but at the same time, she always wanted her own home.
Her niece, Ann Marie Bembridge, appeared even more excited at the handover of the new house.
“The flooring was – yuh haffi ‘fraid fi step pon di flooring; it was in a terrible condition,” she said.
“We’re so glad and proud someone was there thinking about her. To God be the glory. Great things He hath done,” Bembridge said as she expressed thanks to the team.
“This is a beautiful, nice, nice house. I feel good ... because we don’t have it like that,” she added.
She said her aunt had three children but two of them were now deceased.
Brown’s Town Division Councillor Kim Brown-Lawrence said the entire community was happy for Bembridge.
“She’s an indigent, so we try and help the most vulnerable. We have many of them here, but she was well in need, so we came together and we chose her,” Brown-Lawrence told The Gleaner.
“The community more than supports it. She was living in a roofless shack, so she really needed the help,” the councillor added.