KINGSTON, Jamaica — The government’s plan to house families left homeless by Hurricane Melissa in shipping-container units drew criticism from Jamaica’s main building-industry bodies in December 2025, while officials had yet to decide who would qualify for them.
Melissa destroyed more than 40,000 homes and damaged about 191,000, the Jamaica Observer reported on 4 December. Finance Minister Fayval Williams had set aside J$7.2 billion for 3,300 container units in the 2025/26 financial year. In a joint statement, the Incorporated Masterbuilders Association of Jamaica, the Jamaica Institution of Engineers and the Jamaican Institute of Architects urged the government to build permanent starter homes rated to withstand Category 5 winds instead, and warned against creating long-term “container communities”.
By 11 December, the Observer reported that the National Housing Trust was acquiring 5,000 container homes, with the first 2,500 expected in January or February 2026. At that point 1,061 people were still in shelters. Ambassador Rocky Meade, Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, said the state had a legal duty not to reward the occupation of land without rights, and the rules on who would receive a unit had not yet been set.
What it means
Analysis: The choice between temporary containers and permanent homes, and the question of whose land they go on, will shape land-tenure policy and demand for building materials in western Jamaica for years. Temporary housing that becomes permanent without proper planning, drainage and title would create new informal settlements rather than resolve them.
Editor’s note: This article was added to the Jamaica Homes News archive on 30 September 2026. It reports events from December 2025 and is dated to when they were reported.
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