DAILY CARTOON: One Year On, Home Is on Its Way

Container homes for families who lost their houses in Hurricane Melissa are finally going up, but a year after the storm many are still waiting.

KINGSTON, Jamaica, 27 October 2026

The story behind the cartoon

In today’s cartoon, a container home marked Home is finally on its way to a family in rural Jamaica. The trouble is that it is riding on the back of a snail. A grandmother, a mother and a sleeping child wait on a bench beside a house still roofed with a blue tarpaulin, under a calendar that reads One Year.

Construction of container homes for families affected by Hurricane Melissa is now under way in Trelawny and Hanover, the Jamaica Information Service reported on 26 October. The units are part of a national programme of about 2,700 container homes, being rolled out in three phases.

Slower than intended

Speaking during site visits on 20 October, the Minister without Portfolio with responsibility for land titling and settlements acknowledged that implementation has been slower than intended. He pointed to issues between contractors and the ministry, the need to follow procurement and accountability rules for public and donated funds, the challenges of starting a new housing programme and frequent afternoon rain. He told the Jamaica Observer he was not pleased with the pace, but said the contractors’ concerns had been settled and work had started in earnest.

At Bunkers Hill in Trelawny, about eight foundations are being built for double unit homes for larger families. In Shrewsbury, Westmoreland, about 50 container homes are planned, and 20 had already been erected when the site was visited on 22 October, according to JIS.

What families will get

The ministry says the units sit on foundations that will allow families to expand them later. Some will have sewage systems depending on location, some will get a solar generator while others will be connected to the grid, water tanks will be provided where necessary, and units supplied by the Chinese Government will come with basic furnishings.

Land has been part of the hold up. Some families did not hold title to the land where their units were to be placed, and the minister said exceptions were made so that leased land or a deed of gift could be accepted, since a container can be removed if a dispute with a landowner arises.

Why it matters

Many people displaced by the storm are still in shelters or staying with relatives, JIS reported. For them, the speed of delivery matters as much as the design. As the first anniversary of the hurricane arrives on 28 October, the container programme is one of the clearest tests of how quickly recovery can reach the families who lost the most.

The homes are coming. The families waiting for them need them to come faster.