More houses for the poor, says McKenzie

Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie is promising to increase the number of houses built under the Indigent Housing Programme to 60 by 2019.

Speaking at a function to hand over a 200 square foot house to beneficiary Patsy Wheatley in Palmer's Cross, Clarendon on the weekend, McKenzie said the government plans to build 28 houses for indigent persons across the island this year.

The first one was built in Crofts Hill and the second in Palmer's Cross, both in Clarendon.

The next phase of the indigent housing programme will spread to east rural St Andrew and St Thomas.

For the new financial year, the local government minister says the plan is to increase the allocation for social protection to $25 million.

This, he says, will provide for the building of more houses for the indigent, as well as provide increased support for infirmaries.

In the meantime, he wants people to discontinue referring to infirmaries as 'alms house'.