SIXTY-SEVEN-YEAR-OLD Sylvena Swaby of Rocky Point in Clarendon is now a happy and grateful woman after recently receiving a two-bedroom housing unit provided under the Indigent Housing Project.
Swaby was among 30 Jamaicans in three parishes, who recently received keys to their own homes through the project, undertaken by the Government of Jamaica and Food for the Poor.
Swaby says that before she received her home, she was living in deplorable conditions, but "that's a thing of the past."
"I used to live in a little house and when rain fall I would get wet, and sometimes when the wind is blowing it's as if the top is going to come off," she said.
Meanwhile, resident of New Green District in Manchester, Donna-Marie Ball, also a beneficiary of the programme, expressed joy at finally receiving her own home.
"I am overwhelmed knowing that I had difficulty finding a place to live. Where mi used to live, is a good amount of us live together, and to know that the Lord has provided this for me, it's like a real blessing," she said.
"I want to say thanks first of all to the Almighty God, thanks to my MP, Mr Mikael Phillips...and all of who has put this through for me," she added.
Some 1,827 two-bedroom units have been completed through the project, 480 of which were constructed under the Hurricane Sandy Housing programme for people in the eastern parishes of St Thomas, Portland and St Mary.
The cost of each two-bedroom unit is US$6,400 (approximately J$736,000) of which the Government provides 50 per cent through support from the PetroCaribe Development Fund.
Minister without Portfolio with responsibility for Housing in the Ministry of Transport, Works and Housing, Dr Morais Guy, said that the initiative, in addition to providing shelter for thousands of Jamaicans, is providing stable employment for a number of masons, carpenters, plumbers and unskilled labourers.
"We have created employment under this JEEP-administered project and, to date, over 5,000 persons have been employed in the construction process. We are still currently doing 1,200 units per year, and as recently as December 2014, we have 30 beneficiaries receiving keys to their houses in the parishes of Clarendon, Manchester and St Thomas," he said.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/30-people-receive-benefits-under-Indigent-Housing-Project_18545604
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