Community activist urges Government to use Crown lands for poor, marginalised Jamaicans

A community activist is calling for the Government to use Crown lands to settle poor and marginalised Jamaicans, warning against rebuilding vulnerable communities in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa.

O Dave Allen, chairman of the Community Organisation for the Advancement of the Marginalised and Disadvantaged (COMAND), made the call Monday while addressing a World Habitat Day conference hosted by the organisation at the S Hotel in Montego Bay, St James.

“It cannot be that after Melissa, we are prepared to rebuild Jamaica on vulnerable lands, on rocky slopes, on floodplains and some gulliban communities,” Allen said.

“We are calling on the Government to look favourably at using Crown lands to settle the poor and the marginalised of this country.”

Allen said Jamaica faces a significant housing shortfall, with annual demand for about 15,000 houses compared with the Ministry of Economic Growth and Infrastructure Development’s capacity to provide approximately 6,000.

The ministry oversees the housing portfolio in Government.

“There is a serious gap,” he said, arguing that the situation has been worsened by Hurricane Melissa, which displaced people from vulnerable communities.

“We cannot ask people to go back to vulnerable communities,” Allen said.

He also called for a successor to Operation PRIDE, noting that despite its weaknesses, the programme delivered more than 30,000 titles and encouraged community participation.

Allen said COMAND wants to rebuild as a national representative body for marginalised communities and influence public policy on land access.

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