Termites, Costs and a Suspension Order: MPs Grill a Christian Charity Over Its Housing Scheme

• A parliamentary committee questioned the quality of Food For The Poor houses
• One beneficiary’s home was reported to have termites
• The Government was paying US$3,200 per two-bedroom house
• The charity’s chairman denied receiving termite complaints

In May 2017, Food For The Poor, the Christian charity, found its housing programme under scrutiny in Parliament. The Infrastructure Committee, chaired by Mikael Phillips, heard concerns about the quality of low-income houses built under a partnership with the Government, including a report that one beneficiary’s house had termites.

The Gleaner reported that the scheme, begun in 2012, was a 50-50 arrangement between the charity and the State, with the Government’s share drawn from the PetroCaribe Development Fund. The Government was paying US$3,200 toward each two-bedroom house. The charity had asked for an increase of US$800 per unit, split evenly, which would take the Government’s contribution to US$3,600.

Several MPs weighed in, including opposition member Dr Fenton Ferguson and government members Leslie Campbell and Everald Warmington, a state minister. Project director Lanford Chambers was also named in the report. Warmington questioned “why the project was continuing when, according to him, Prime Minister Andrew Holness ordered that it be suspended.”

In an editor’s note attached to the updated story, chairman Andrew Mahfood said the charity had received no complaints about termites and that the boards used in its houses are specially treated.

The episode is a reminder that when faith-based organisations deliver housing with public money, they are held to public standards. For Jamaican readers, returnees and donors, it raises fair questions about build quality, value for money and accountability in low-cost housing, and about how charities, churches and the State should share responsibility when a family’s only asset is the house they have been given.

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