NHT Eases Proof-of-Ownership Rules for Melissa Relief as Grant Applications Outpace Loans

KINGSTON, Jamaica — The National Housing Trust (NHT) widened its Hurricane Melissa relief measures in December 2025, easing the paperwork needed to prove home ownership and extending its mortgage moratorium, while reporting far more interest in grants than in relief loans.

The NHT is offering grants of up to J$500,000 per property, relief loans of up to J$3.5 million and a six-month mortgage moratorium, the Jamaica Gleaner reported on 5 December. Because many affected households lack formal titles, Assistant General Manager Dwayne Berbick said applicants could now show ownership using property tax records, land diagrams, or declarations notarised by a Justice of the Peace.

The moratorium applies automatically in the hardest-hit parishes for November 2025 to April 2026. From 10 December, mortgagors in St Catherine, Portland, St Thomas, Clarendon, St Mary, Kingston and St Andrew could also apply, the Jamaica Information Service reported.

On 10 December, NHT Managing Director Martin Miller told Parliament’s Public Administration and Appropriations Committee that the Trust had received 667 grant applications but only seven applications for relief loans. On the insurance side, the NHT had received 1,567 claim notifications and completed 357 claims, with preliminary estimates of about J$823 million, the Jamaica Observer reported.

What it means

Analysis: The gap between grant and loan applications shows how reluctant storm-hit households are to take on new debt. The need to relax proof-of-ownership rules also shows how Jamaica’s long-standing land titling gaps slow down disaster relief, and why formal title matters when it is needed most.

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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