Westmoreland family gets indigent housing solution
A family of four in Moreland Hill near Little London, Westmoreland is the recent beneficiary of a housing solution d under the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development’s Indigent Housing Programme.
The two-bedroom house, built at a cost of J$10 million, was officially handed over on December 9.
“My greatest wish has come true because I wanted the family to have a home for this Christmas and I think this is going to be a beautiful Christmas for the family. We are searching, finding, and gradually doing what we can to assist those persons who are in need,” said Portfolio Minister, Honourable Desmond McKenzie.
The unit was fully furnished to include a stove, refrigerator, washing machine, beds, televisions, fans, and a couch.
The beneficiaries are Winsome Jones; her common-law husband Barrington McIntosh; and daughters Candice Coke and Antoinette Bowers. A wheelchair ramp was also built to provide ease of access to Miss Jones, who is wheelchair-bound.
“It is a great joy to be in this new and spacious house,” Miss Jones stated. “They have really set me up with this house. This Christmas will be sweet having my family in a space suitable for family bonding.”
Miss Jones worked as a farmer before losing one of her legs because of a medical condition. She also thanked Minister McKenzie for improving the living conditions of her family who shared a dilapidated two-room wooden structure.
Cold Hill Road, the parochial roadway that had deteriorated into a track leading to Miss Jones’ home, was also rehabilitated at a cost of J$7m.
Minister McKenzie also used the occasion to report on solutions in Westmoreland under the Indigent Housing Programme.
A J$12.5 million three-bedroom unit will be built in Grange Hill, while a J$4.2 million one-bedroom unit is under construction at Lennox Bigwoods. A J$9 million two-bedroom house is also planned for construction.
“The next time I come back to Westmoreland, I will be opening the long overdue male ward at the Westmoreland Infirmary that costs over $60 million…fully furnished for the residents of the infirmary in Savanna-la-Mar.”
