NHT to Deploy 2,500 Semi-Permanent Homes After Hurricane Melissa

Kingston, Jamaica, 28 November 2025 — The National Housing Trust has confirmed it will procure the first 2,500 of a planned 5,000 semi-permanent housing units as part of Jamaica’s reconstruction response following Hurricane Melissa. The units, which meet the Trust’s technical specifications for building codes, construction, and safety, will be sited primarily on lands already owned by the NHT in the parishes most severely affected by the storm.

The Trust has identified NHT-owned lands in St Elizabeth, Westmoreland, and Hanover as priority locations for the initial rollout. Many of these parcels were already designated for housing development and may have existing sewerage and water infrastructure in place, which will reduce the preparation time and cost required before units can be installed. Concrete foundations will be laid before units arrive, ensuring that assembly is as straightforward as possible for recipients.

Who Will Benefit

The programme will not be limited to NHT contributors. The Trust is working alongside other government agencies involved in social housing to ensure that units reach the most vulnerable individuals affected by the hurricane, including those who would not qualify for NHT financing under normal circumstances. Some units will be sold to individual buyers who meet standard NHT criteria. Others will be allocated directly through social housing channels to those with no ability to purchase.

The two-bedroom EPS prefabricated units, at approximately 400 square feet each, include a bathroom, kitchen, and living area. Their insulated panel construction provides resistance to heat accumulation as well as to earthquakes, fires, and hurricanes. The NHT reviewed available options on the international market before selecting this specification, with two key criteria guiding the choice: speed of on-site assembly and affordability.

Debate About the Right Approach

The procurement has continued to attract attention from Jamaica’s professional construction and engineering bodies, which have advocated for permanent block-and-steel construction as the foundation of the recovery rather than semi-permanent modular units. Their concern is not about the immediate emergency, but about what happens when temporary solutions are not replaced. Container and modular communities from past disasters in other countries have in some cases become permanent fixtures, locking residents into sub-standard housing decades after the emergency that created them.

The NHT’s position is that speed of deployment is the immediate priority, and that these units represent an appropriate rapid response given the scale of need and the limitations of Jamaica’s construction industry capacity. The Trust has not specified a timeline for transitioning recipients from semi-permanent units to permanent housing, which remains the central concern of the professional bodies.

The Path Ahead

The 2,500-unit first phase will not come close to meeting the scale of displacement created by Hurricane Melissa. What it will do is provide a tested model for rapid deployment that can be scaled, adjusted, and improved as further units are procured. The critical decisions about how these sites will be managed, what services will be provided to residents, and how the transition to permanent housing will be phased are the questions that will determine whether this intervention becomes part of a coherent recovery strategy or simply a measure of immediate relief.

Jamaica’s housing market in the affected parishes will not return to its pre-storm condition. The question is whether it returns to something better or something worse. The answer depends on the quality of the decisions taken during the recovery, not just the speed of the construction.