Tourism workers in HAJ’s cross hairs
WESTERN BUREAU: THE HOUSING Agency of Jamaica (HAJ) says better days are on the horizon for ‘homeseeking’ tourism workers in St James as the agency is now formalising plans to provide them with legitimate housing solutions.
In outlining the plans in an interview with The Gleaner, HAJ Chairman Norman Brown listed Lilliput, Salt Spring, and Norwood as some of the communities that are poised to benefit from the agency’s ongoing plans to create additional housing to satisfy the current needs, especially among tourism workers.
“We’re in the negotiation stage for a housing project at Grange Pen in Lilliput, and that’s specifically geared toward the lower-income stream in the tourism industry,” said Brown. “We want to have houses valued at around $7 million. The majority of the scheme should be one-bedroom houses in a 3,000-square-foot lot.”
“For the majority of St James, the dormitory communities are really informal communities, and places like Lilliput, Barrett Hall, Norwood, Providence, and Salt Spring have thousands of homes in them. Right now, we’re doing the infrastructure work in Grange Pen, where there are approximately 560 housing solutions, and we’re doing about $900 million worth of work which started from last year,” added Brown.
$8.4-BILLION HOUSING DEVELOPMENT
The HAJ is presently working on a $8.4-billion housing development in the Rhyne Park community, which will see some 754 lots being created.
HAJ’s Managing Director Gary Howell also noted that the agency is seeking land in the neighbouring parish of Trelawny to build additional homes, which he hopes will be attractive to persons who work in St James but would not be overly concerned about the halfhour road trip to and from work.
“To assist in addressing St James’ housing issues, we’re trying to acquire over 600 acres of land in Trelawny, to build homes, especially for singleparent families and hotel workers at a price where an individual can access a mortgage from the National Housing Trust,” said Howell.
“We’re taking careful note of where the Montego Bay perimeter road will be so that we can look at acquiring additional lands when those areas are opened up to create more dormitory properties for Montego Bay. We’re looking at the terrain and seeing where in the area is most amenable to development,” Howell added.
For hotel worker, McKoy Smith, he said that he would be happy to make the daily trip from St James to Trelawny, once, at the end of the day, he is going home to his own house.
“Some sections of Trelawny are just 25 minutes away from Montego Bay and in terms of crime and violence, it is a relatively safe parish,” said Smith. “I am very much interested in owning a home, so I am very much interested already.”