The Government has added $9.65 billion to finish paying hurricane repair grants to homeowners. More than 11,000 households are next in line, but some approved families still cannot be found.
KINGSTON, Jamaica, 30 October 2026. More than 11,000 households whose homes were damaged by Hurricane Melissa are expected to receive repair grants over the next two weeks, after the Government added $9.65 billion to the Restoration of Owner or Occupant Family Shelters programme, known as ROOFS, the Jamaica Information Service (JIS) reported this week.
The Prime Minister announced the extra money at a special press briefing at Jamaica House on Tuesday, 27 October, one day before the first anniversary of the storm. The Minister of Labour and Social Security, whose ministry runs the programme, gave the payment update at the post Cabinet press briefing on Wednesday. The Gleaner and the Jamaica Observer also reported the announcement.
How many have been paid
According to the JIS, the Prime Minister said more than 118,000 households were assessed as needing help under ROOFS, that roughly half had received assistance so far, and that about $12 billion had been spent. The Minister put the number of beneficiaries assessed as eligible in the minor, major and severe damage categories at 106,350, and said more than 49,000 had been served to date.
The two sets of figures measure slightly different things, assessments on one hand and eligible beneficiaries on the other, and the Government has not published a reconciliation of them. Either way, the numbers suggest that tens of thousands of damaged homes are still waiting on money a year after the hurricane.
The deadline the Government has set
The Prime Minister said the aim is to reach 90 per cent of the assessed households by the end of December and the remaining 10 per cent by January 2027, when the Government hopes to close the recovery phase of the Melissa response, the JIS reported. He acknowledged that payments will take some time because of bureaucratic requirements and the checks needed before money is released.
The Minister said that once the additional allocation is received, his ministry will be able to pay more than 11,000 cases that are ready for payment, with thousands more expected to be completed within one to two weeks.
What the grants are worth
The grants are fixed by the level of damage. In August, the JIS reported that households with minor damage are eligible for a $75,000 rehabilitation grant. Households with major damage may receive $200,000, of which $75,000 may go to general recovery costs and $125,000 is set aside for building materials. Households with severe damage may receive up to $500,000, with $75,000 for general costs and $425,000 earmarked for rebuilding or repair.
For many families those sums are likely to cover part of the work rather than all of it, particularly where a roof or walls were lost. Owners planning repairs may want to price materials and labour before the money arrives, so that the grant goes first to the work that keeps the house dry and secure.
The families who cannot be found
One of the more striking details from Wednesday’s briefing is that some people who have already been approved are not being paid because the ministry cannot reach them. The Minister said about three to four per cent of beneficiaries approved under phase one of the programme have not received their grants because the ministry could not locate or contact them.
He urged those people to contact the ministry or their Member of Parliament, and said the ministry would intensify work with MPs and community leaders to identify heads of household who have not yet been paid. Ministry teams were scheduled to be at the Darliston Baptist Church in Westmoreland and the Lacovia Community Centre in St Elizabeth on Thursday to help residents with consultations, document checks and case status updates.
Why paperwork matters
Earlier this year the ministry said many delays came down to simple problems such as an incorrect Taxpayer Registration Number, a misspelled name, a changed phone number or duplicate records, and that payments in phase two were being made by direct bank deposit. It also warned that no one from the programme would ask for banking information over the phone.
For homeowners, and for relatives abroad helping a parent or grandparent through the process, the practical lesson is likely to be that the details on file need to match the documents. A wrong number or an old phone contact may be all that stands between a household and its grant.
What it means for property
Repair money matters beyond the individual household. Homes left with damaged roofs or open walls through another rainy season tend to deteriorate faster, which can make eventual repairs more expensive and lower what a property is worth if it has to be sold, rented or used as security for a loan. Faster payment may therefore help protect the value of thousands of modest family homes across the western parishes.
Relatives overseas who have been sending money home for repairs may also want to check whether the household has been assessed and paid, so that family remittances and Government grants are not covering the same work twice while other repairs wait.
The money is now on the table. Getting it into the right hands before January may depend as much on paperwork as on politics.
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