- Five people displaced by Hurricane Beryl were still in a Clarendon shelter in November 2024
- They had been living on land owned by SCJ Holdings
- SCJ Holdings donated portions of the land to Food For The Poor
- The Christian charity would build five houses so they could leave the shelter
Months after Hurricane Beryl struck Jamaica in July 2024, five residents of Rocky Point, Clarendon, were still living in the shelter where they had fled the storm. In November 2024 Nationwide News reported that help was on the way, and that it depended on land as much as on bricks and mortar.
Councillor for the Rocky Point division Winston Maragh said work was underway to move the five out of the Hugh Shearer Community and Cultural Centre, where they had sheltered since the hurricane.
The obstacle had been where they lived. According to Maragh, the residents had been living on land owned by the Sugar Company of Jamaica Holdings, SCJ Holdings. The solution came from the landowner: Maragh said SCJ Holdings had donated portions of the land to Food For The Poor to build the five houses.
It is a small story, but it shows how land and housing are linked in Jamaica. Food For The Poor, the Christian charity that builds hundreds of homes a year, generally needs clear rights to the land before it can build. People living on State-owned or company-owned land without title are often the most vulnerable after a storm and the hardest to help. Here a landowner released parcels, a charity supplied the houses, and the local councillor coordinated.
The model is worth copying. Government bodies and churches that hold idle land where people have long lived informally could release small parcels, with proper documentation, for charity-built homes. For Jamaicans overseas who want to help storm victims, supporting that kind of arrangement means paying for a house that can stand on land its owner will one day hold with a title.
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