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On a crisp Friday in St Catherine, Jamaica, Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness stood at the construction site of the new Wick Hall Estate housing development and issued a urgent, collaborative call to action: solving the country’s growing squatting crisis requires more than just strict enforcement—it demands a massive expansion of accessible, affordable housing built in partnership with private developers.

Holness framed the spread of unplanned informal settlements as a multifaceted challenge that erodes national productivity, drains public tax resources, and leaves vulnerable residents trapped in inadequate living conditions. While he acknowledged that most people who turn to squatting do so out of genuine unmet housing need, he detailed how these unregulated communities gradually emerge, often through incremental land occupation that is sometimes framed as adverse possession. What starts as a single small zinc or block structure quickly grows into an entire neighborhood built without basic public infrastructure: no paved roads, no formal water distribution, no functional drainage, no scheduled public transit routes, and no regular garbage collection.

These gaps do more than just create headaches for local governments, the prime minister argued—they directly undercut the productivity of Jamaican workers. Residents of unplanned settlements face daily battles just to access basic needs and get to their jobs: waking up before dawn to collect water, trekking down muddy unmarked hills to reach main roads, waiting for sporadic, unplanned transit that never runs on schedule. By the time they arrive at work, they are already exhausted, frustrated, and unable to perform at their best. This cumulative drag on workforce productivity holds back broader national economic growth, Holness explained.

To reverse this trend, Holness laid out a market-oriented strategy that targets the root of the problem: lack of affordable formal housing options. The core of the approach is to make legal, planned housing a more accessible and economically viable option than illegal squatting. Right now, Jamaica faces a national housing deficit of roughly 150,000 units. The government has already stepped up its own commitments, promising to deliver around 70,000 new housing solutions through state agencies including the National Housing Trust (NHT) and the Housing Agency of Jamaica. But closing the full gap will require private developers to shift more of their investment away from exclusive high-end projects and toward middle- and working-class affordable housing, the prime minister emphasized.

Holness specifically challenged developers to take advantage of existing government mortgage support programs to build housing that fits the budgets of ordinary Jamaicans. Many working Jamaicans cannot afford $20 million luxury homes, he noted, but can afford $10 million properties with government-backed mortgage assistance.

The Wick Hall Estate development, which broke ground Friday in Spanish Town’s Featherbed Lane, held up as a blueprint for the kind of projects the government wants to see scaled across the island. Led by Altruhomes, a subsidiary of the ARC Group, the development will transform 36 acres of land into 221 new planned homes, complete with dedicated green public spaces, recreational facilities, and modern energy-efficient features including solar-ready construction and pre-installed solar water heaters. The project is intentionally located near existing economic hubs and infrastructure, aligning with the government’s goal of connecting housing to economic opportunity.

Ultimately, Holness said, the goal of Jamaica’s national housing strategy is to rebalance the market so that the formal regulated housing sector outpaces the informal squatting market, removing the economic incentive for illegal land occupation. Organized, infrastructure-supported planned communities do more than just improve individual quality of life—they lay the foundation for stronger long-term economic growth and higher national productivity. “The more communities are organised, the greater will be the productivity of the people,” Holness told attendees at the ground-breaking ceremony.

To mark World Environment Day 2024 on June 5, a cross-sector community gathering converged on Whitehouse, a coastal town in Jamaica’s Westmoreland parish, to advance local reforestation and food security goals. Bringing together nearly 30 elementary school students from New Hope Primary School and Kings Primary School, local smallholder farmers, Forestry Department officials, trained environmental wardens, and team members from the Sandals Foundation, the event centered on planting native fruit trees as part of a larger national environmental initiative.

This on-the-ground planting activity is a core component of the Sandals Foundation’s ongoing support for Jamaica’s national Reforestation, Ecological Enhancement and Landscape Framework, widely known by its acronym RE-LEAF. As a leading Caribbean philanthropic organization focused on community resilience, the Sandals Foundation has followed through on its RE-LEAF commitment by distributing 360 fruit tree seedlings across six local educational institutions and one regional farming association.

The institutions that received seedlings include Culloden Early Childhood Institution, Whitehouse Basic School, New Hope Primary School, Kings Primary School, Petersville Primary School, and Petersville Early Childhood Institution. Members of the Westmoreland Organic Farmers Association also took delivery of trees. The selection of species prioritized nutrient-dense, locally adapted food crops: breadfruit, ackee, jackfruit, mango, avocado, soursop, and Otaheite apple. The distribution and planting aim to expand access to affordable, fresh, locally grown produce for Westmoreland communities, while restoring degraded green landscapes.

During the World Environment Day event, participating students worked side-by-side with conservation and agricultural leaders to plant 20 new fruit trees. This hands-on collaboration was designed to foster early environmental literacy and a culture of stewardship among young people, connecting classroom learning to tangible on-the-ground action. For example, Jada Myers of New Hope Primary School partnered with Sanctuary Warden Diego Salmon to plant a tree, while Elijah Bowman of Kings Primary School prepped a seedling for planting, gaining first-hand experience in ecological restoration.

Heidi Clarke, executive director of the Sandals Foundation, explained that the organization’s choice to focus on fruit trees was a deliberate, community-centered decision. “We chose fruit trees because in addition to helping to restore green spaces and biodiversity — they sustain a community’s food security,” Clarke noted. The strategic selection ties environmental restoration directly to local livelihoods and food system resilience, a critical priority for Caribbean small island developing states grappling with the impacts of climate change.

Georgia Scarlett, environmental manager at the Sandals Foundation, expanded on the broader mission of the project beyond tree planting itself. “Reforestation is about much more than planting trees,” Scarlett said. “It is also about ensuring future generations understand their role in protecting the natural resources that sustain our communities. By placing fruit trees in schools and farming communities we are creating opportunities for learning, nourishment, and long-term environmental stewardship.”

For Caribbean communities already facing mounting pressure from climate change, which strains local food systems, erodes green spaces, and depletes natural resources, the RE-LEAF collaborative model offers a replicable, practical framework for local climate action. By embedding fruit trees in schools and farming hubs, the initiative does more than distribute seedlings: it empowers local residents to take ownership of their food production, cool overheated landscapes through restored tree cover, and protect the natural environment that future generations will inherit.

FALMOUTH, Trelawny — Almost a year after Hurricane Melissa swept across Trelawny, leaving a trail of destroyed property in its wake, nine local residents still remain trapped in emergency accommodation at the Bunkers Hill Community Centre — and Jamaican government agencies are in a urgent race against the clock to deliver permanent, safe housing for them before the Atlantic hurricane season peaks.

The urgent timeline and ongoing efforts were laid out by C Junior Gager, Mayor of Falmouth and chairman of the Trelawny Municipal Corporation (TMC), during the body’s regular monthly public sitting on Thursday.

Gager told attendees that all nine displaced people lost their homes to catastrophic damage when Melissa made landfall last October, leaving them with no alternative but to seek refuge in the community-run emergency shelter. “Their houses were badly damaged and they had nowhere else to go,” he explained to the corporation.

To move the project forward, two national government ministries — the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development, and the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation — have partnered with local municipal authorities to develop a coordinated housing solution for the group. Under the current plan, the nine residents will move into eight newly constructed units, with two brothers who currently live together in the shelter set to share one home.

With the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season already underway, Gager confirmed that the TMC has already completed all required pre-construction groundwork to avoid costly delays once funding is secured. That work includes scouting, vetting, and securing appropriately zoned, safe plots of land that meet all building requirements for the new housing units.

“Our team from the local authority went through and checked to ensure that the land was available and everything was in place so that the houses could be built,” Gager said. Detailed cost estimates for the construction project have already been finalized and submitted to the Ministry of Local Government for review, and municipal leaders are now awaiting final approval of the budget allocation to break ground.

The project is currently in the public procurement phase, Gager confirmed, with relocation efforts progressing steadily even as formal funding approval is pending. “The estimate was done and we are now awaiting funding so that we can kick off the action of building their homes,” he added. Once funding is greenlit, the construction contract will be put out to competitive public tender to award the build to a qualified contractor.

Seeking to reassure both the displaced residents and the broader community that their plight remains a top government priority, Gager stressed that the nine people stuck in the emergency shelter have not been forgotten by authorities. “It is not that they are there and no attention is being placed. The attention is on track. The work is being carried out. The land has been identified and soon they will be able to have their own private homes,” he promised.