Holness pumps another $9.65b into ROOFS

Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness has announced another $9. 65 billion for the Restoration of Owner and Occupant Family Shelter (ROOFS) programme as the Government races to get financial assistance to families whose homes were damaged by Hurricane Melissa. With more than 118,000 households assessed as needing help and roughly half having received assistance, he has set a December target for reaching 90 per cent of those assessed and an end-of-January deadline for the remainder. Holness said the additional funding was intended to complete payments under the programme, which provides financial assistance to households based on the extent of damage to their homes. He also charged the Ministry of Labour and Social Security with ensuring that people who have completed the required checks receive their benefits.

“The payments themselves will take some time because of the bureaucratic requirements, and I’m not saying it is a bad thing, but they have to go through steps. Verification — some houses have to be reassessed — all kinds of things to make sure that no one is benefiting who should not benefit or you are not benefiting more than once,” Holness said during a special press briefing at Jamaica House on Tuesday. The new allocation comes as the Government seeks to bring the recovery phase to an end by January 2027, nearly 15 months after Hurricane Melissa struck Jamaica in October 2025. “Our objective is to reach 90 per cent of the assessed households with the assistance by the end of December. That’s your target, Minister Charles,” he instructed. He added that the Government wanted to conclude the recovery phase by January, although he did not suggest that every damaged home would necessarily be fully repaired by then. The ROOFS programme began with an initial allocation of…