policy

JPS says a 7 percent post-Hurricane Melissa rate hike was a compromise, not the full cost. Heres what changed on your bill and why.

A planning inspector approved five homes in place of St Anne’s Church in Hastings on appeal, overturning the council’s refusal and ruling the loss of the church regrettable but not against planning policy.

Jamaica promised electronic land titles by 2021. The actual contract wasn’t signed until August 2025, seven years after the original announcement, while 45 percent of the island’s land still has no title at all.

In 2025 Queensland released an opt-in Model Code, co-designed with 14 councils, to make it easier to build community housing on church and charity-owned land, a move welcomed by the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane.

A Gleaner reader pointed out that Airbnbs may already fall under Jamaica’s Rent Restriction Act, a law that predates the platform. Nobody has ever enforced it against short-term rentals.

The Trelawny Municipal Corporation says unauthorised construction is widespread and churches are among the offenders, with one church’s case already sent to the council’s attorney. The mayor warned that unsafe buildings could collapse during hurricane season.

A 2025 UC San Diego study found about 3,600 acres in San Diego County eligible for church housing under SB 4, 96 per cent of it controlled by faith groups, enough for nearly 5,000 homes if a tenth were developed.

Portmore became Jamaica’s first new parish in generations in February 2025. Its own mayor spent years warning that infrastructure, not just administrative status, was what the fast-growing city actually needed.

A Christian accountability council has launched in Jamaica to help churches meet 2022 charity rules on audits, receipts and donor records, saying most lack the resources to comply and that accredited churches become more attractive to donors.

Enterprise Community Partners has expanded its Faith-Based Development Initiative to Houston, San Antonio and Dallas with $1 million from the T.D. Jakes Foundation and Wells Fargo, aiming to help congregations create 800 affordable homes.

Rent-to-own housing has been proposed in Jamaica since the 1990s, promised by both major parties, and still doesn’t exist as an actual programme. A JN Group executive renewed the call in 2024 as the affordability gap keeps widening.

Montgomery County, Maryland, passed the FAITH zoning amendment in April 2024, removing barriers to affordable housing on land owned by faith groups and private schools, with projects required to meet affordability thresholds.

Advisers told the Church of England its £100 million slavery fund is insufficient and should grow to £1 billion; the Church Commissioners, who manage over £10 billion, will now deploy the first £100 million within five years.

A letter writer criticised a bishop who, asked on radio how the church could curb crime, proposed government funding for the church and defended churches’ tax contributions, arguing Jamaica waits for “a dollar sign” before acting.

West Jamaica Adventist president Glen Samuels asked the government to stop taxing pastors’ travel allowances at 29 per cent, saying fixed payments cannot keep up with fuel prices across 167 pastoral districts.