Central Westmoreland MP calls for speedy regularisation of squatters in parish
Published:Monday | October 30, 2023 | 12:05 AMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
George Wright, the self-proclaimed independent member of parliament for Westmoreland Central, is urging Prime Minister Andrew Holness to accelerate the regularisation of squatter communities in the parish in order to enable access to additional lands on which people may live a comfortable life in their own houses.
According to the first-term MP, the demand for affordable housing is now higher than ever.
“I am going to call on the prime minister to make more land available to build more houses and continue the mission of putting more hardworking Jamaicans in their own homes,” Wright added.
He noted that every day his constituents have called on him, seeking out land to purchase so they can build their homes.
“On this note, I will ask you, Mr Prime Minister, to fast-track the regularisation of the informal settlements in Westmoreland so that citizens can get the infrastructure they need to be comfortable in their humble homes,” Wright pleaded.
He was speaking during a National Housing Trust (NHT) handover ceremony for 32 new housing solutions to Shrewsbury housing development beneficiaries in Petersfield, Westmoreland, by Holness recently. The project was completed as part of the NHT’s Labour and Small Materials Programme (LSMP).
“The homes we stand before today are not just blocks and steel; they represent the fulfilment of a promise made by this government to build Jamaica. Today we can witness the reality of affordable housing,” Wright opined.
He said these homes are not just structures, but are becoming the cradles where the bonds of family and community will grow together.
“Many of us come from far away to find a job, and when we do find the job, we can’t find a place close enough to call home,” Wright stated.
Twenty per cent of Jamaica’s population live in squatter settlements, which have been defined as the illegally occupied land or buildings. The issue of informal settlements has remained a perennial problem for decades, despite efforts by successive governments to arrest the problem.
According to the Squatter Management Unit, based in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, there are approximately 700 informal settlements spread across Jamaica that serve as melting pots of Jamaica’s most sinister social, political, and economic ills. Often, these communities are also hotbeds for crime, a problem parishes like Westmoreland are now faced with.
The Government recently announced yet another road map to address informal settlements, pockets of which are located in the 14 parishes across the island. So far, aggressive steps are now under way to acquire properties to regularise close to 1,000 households in the first instance in Kingston, St Andrew, and St James.