More than 300 people living under substandard conditions in Leamington, says councillor
Published:Tuesday | October 15, 2024 | 12:08 AMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Amorkard Brown, the councillor for the Leamington division in the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation (WMC), says there are approximately 300 people in his division living in substandard housing conditions.
“I may be able to identify between 200 and 300 people at different levels whose conditions warrant a significant upgrade, given their current living condition,” Brown told The Gleaner on Sunday.
“In Leamington, we have a lot of elderly persons living in substandard conditions, and also persons in middle age who, for some reason or another, poverty would have struck them to the point where their living conditions have deteriorated over time,” added Brown.
Last Friday, while sharing in the handover ceremony for a two-bedroom house valued at some $8.3 million to Lloyd East of Belvedere in his division, Brown spoke to Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie about the conditions in his division.
“I believe the state that Mr East and his family were living in was below par for a home setting. However, Mr East’s situation is a representation of hundreds of other people living in Leamington,” Brown told McKenzie.
“So, I am therefore asking us to ponder, as a government, in terms of a comprehensive and inclusive policy that will look at persons who are living in vulnerable situations like Mr East,” Brown pleaded to McKenzie.
Despite being on the opposite side of the political divide, as a People’s National Party councillor, Savanna-la-Mar Mayor Danree Delancy lauded McKenzie for the work he has been doing with the indigent housing programme, noting it allows vulnerable citizens to enjoy a more peaceful lifestyle.
“I am not sure how this initiative came about under your stewardship, sir, but I think this is one of the better things coming out of your ministry, and this is something that we all should commend,” Delancy, the councillor for the Bethel Town division, told McKenzie.
Noting that every constituency across the island has persons who are in dire need of housing units under the indigent social housing initiative, he urged McKenzie to continue to push the programme.