Prime Minister Andrew Holness is urging members of the private sector to support the Government’s effort to provide sustainable housing for vulnerable people in society, under the New Social Housing Programme (NSHP).

He made the appeal during the handover of a house donated by Arc Properties Limited, the first company from the private sector to partner with the government on the programme, to Sidonie Eldemire and her 14-year-old son, Rohan Clarke, off Olympic Way in St Andrew on Wednesday (December 14).

The two-bedroom unit was built at a cost of approximately $6 million.

Holness assured that all the mechanisms are in place to ensure accountability in the execution of the NSHP.

“The only scepticism that you should have is that the project might take a little longer than you expect because of the rigour that we apply to ensure accountability and transparency of these projects,” said the prime minister.

 “Anything that you can assist with… the programme is designed to work with you,” he continued as he urged members of the private sector to help out in whatever way possible.

Norman Horne, chairman of Arc Properties Limited, said the company remains committed to giving back a portion of its annual profits as part of its corporate social responsibility and encouraged other private stakeholders to come on board.

“Over the years, God has blessed us in a way that we can earn, and we can give back. Today, we’re here to give back part of the profits that we made in 2021 to 2022,” he noted.

“We don’t want to be a business that just focuses on money, harvesting equity and building capital for shareholders only. We want to be a business that focuses on the social good. The real development of any country is based on investment in the people and investment in infrastructure.”

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