PNP demands urgent shelter solutions for residents using Petersfield High in Westmoreland

Opposition Spokesman on Housing Professor Senator Floyd Morris, is urging the Government to implement immediate and humane solutions for residents currently housed at Petersfield High School in Westmoreland following Hurricane Melissa.

The call follows last week's announcement by Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie, the residents will have to be relocated.

“This facility, by the end of December, will have to be relocated so that the school can retake possession, clean up and get ready for the school term in January,” he said.

However, Morris warned against what he described as inadequate and degrading alternatives.

“Whilst I know that the school cannot be a permanent fix for the residents, the Government is obligated to provide reasonable support for these residents who have been left homeless due to Hurricane Melissa,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.

Professor Morris also condemned the Government’s proposal to relocate some residents to a temporary tent facility on the school’s playfield. “This is inhumane and an affront to the dignity of the residents,” he declared.

“Simply telling the residents that they must find family members or get somewhere to rent cannot cut it either. The government has a duty of care for the people, after a natural disaster. A caring government does not abandon the people who are in distress,” Morris said.

Morris proposed what he described as a three-pronged approach to resolving the crisis.

“First, it should establish an immediate holding area for the residents to stay until their shelter needs are properly sorted out. Second, those whose homes can be repaired, the Government should provide them with the materials to execute such repairs, with support from the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF). And third, those who do not have any form of shelter, the Government should provide a more sustainable solution for them.”

McKenzie outlined a four-tiered plan to relocate residents. Under the plan, elderly and medically vulnerable residents are to be transferred to care facilities such as the infirmary, while those with relatives or friends willing to accommodate them are being encouraged to pursue that option with Government support.

Residents who were renting before the hurricane and lost their homes may receive financial assistance to secure alternative accommodation, while those with partially damaged homes will receive material support for repairs with help from the Jamaica Defence Force.

McKenzie said for individuals who fall outside these categories and have nowhere to go, the Government has proposed a temporary Jamaica Defence Force-managed tent facility on the school’s playfield. He stressed that all measures are temporary pending permanent housing solutions.

The Government is pursuing a container housing project. It has also announced that the JDF and a team of engineers from Guyana will be embarking on a project to build more than 200 homes in eastern Westmoreland.

Morris' comments also follow heightened tensions at the Petersfield shelter after a recent break-in at the school, which prompted Minister McKenzie to order 24-hour police surveillance and reiterate plans for relocation by month-end.

Westmoreland was among the hardest-hit western parishes when Hurricane Melissa made landfall in October as the strongest storm to slam Jamaica.

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