Prime Minister, Dr. the Most Hon. Andrew Holness has announced that the Government will be allocating J$315 million, to assist the most vulnerable householders across the island,  who were impacted by heavy rainfall between July and December 2024 and who are unable to undertake repairs to their homes by themselves.

“Despite distributing almost 14,000 Hurricane Beryl Recovery Grants, we know that there are many households across Jamaica that were also impacted by the heavy rainfall, due to the unusual weather patterns between July and December. The Government will be allocating J$315 million, or J$5 million per constituency, to assist the most vulnerable cases in communities across Jamaica”.

The Prime Minister, while speaking in Parliament on Tuesday (January 28, 2025), said “While the amounts to be recommended for each beneficiary are at the discretion of the Members of Parliament, the grants will be in the range of $70,000 to $100,000.   This he added, would allow householders to make meaningful improvements to roofs, windows and side boarding and would ensure that more Jamaican shelters can withstand the next heavy rainfall, tropical depression or hurricane”.

He further noted that persons who are already beneficiaries of the Hurricane Relief Grant will not be able to benefit from this allocation, adding that checks will be made to ensure that there are no duplications of allocations across the programmes.

Prime Minister Holness further noted that where challenges exist in identifying registered hardware stores to provide the goods needed for repairs, that are close to the household in need, the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation (MEGJC) through its National Spatial Data Management Branch (NSDMB) has mapped every registered hardware and haberdashery across the island from which to select.

“This comprehensive map,  will not only provide Members of Parliament with a complete list of all the hardware stores in their constituency,  but the data has also been spatially represented so you can see where the hardware store is, relative to the area of need. This will ensure that materials can be sourced locally, reducing transportation costs and improving the efficiency of the programme”, he expounded.

The Prime Minister said another challenge is that of insufficient staffing, which slows down the approval of grants, as each grant has to be specifically assessed, which requires the deployment of several persons to examine structures.

“We will be leveraging the Assessment Staff of the Constituency Development Fund (CDF), the Urban Renewal Programme and the other Units in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation to assist in the assessment process. We will not be able to assess every beneficiary and so what we will be doing is using representative samples and risk analysis to ensure that we can, very quickly disburse the benefits”.

Dr. Holness urged all Members of Parliament to work closely with their constituents to identify those households that are most in need of assistance, adding that “It is crucial that this programme is effective and impactful in ensuring the long-term resilience of our shelters, particularly roofs”.

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