HAJ Reviews Easington Lands for Possible St Thomas Housing Project

The Housing Agency of Jamaica Limited (HAJ) is expected to visit lands in Easington, St Thomas, on Tuesday as it considers whether to acquire property now held by the St Thomas Municipal Corporation.

Kevin McKindoe, the corporation's chief executive officer, shared the update at the municipal body's monthly meeting on June 11. He said the agency had already carried out an initial review using available records and mapping information.

“They have done their desk assessment by looking at the NLA (National Land Agency) website, looking at the properties… looking at the topography,” McKindoe said.

According to McKindoe, the Tuesday visit will give HAJ personnel a chance to inspect the lands directly before deciding whether to move forward with a purchase from the corporation.

He also told the meeting that the National Housing Trust (NHT) is expected to conduct a separate review of the same lands. McKindoe said the corporation is “still awaiting the NHT to conduct their site visit”.

The move is tied to the corporation's wider plan to subdivide the roughly 100-acre Easington holding this year, with a view to disposing of the land at a later stage.

In January, the corporation said it intended to regularise people already living on parts of the property by giving them a route to secure titles for the land they occupy.

The planned subdivision and eventual disposal are aimed at supporting housing development while helping to resolve long-running land tenure issues affecting residents in the community.