Jamaica has more than 500 squatter settlements, and nearly half of them are on government land.
That’s according to the latest data provided from an ongoing National Squatter Survey.
The Ministry of Economic Growth and Infrastructure Development presented them to Parliament’s Public Administration and Appropriations Committee on Wednesday.
Chevon Campbell tells us more.
The survey puts the number of households in these settlements at just over 58,000, and the population at close to 146,000 people.
But the count is not yet complete.
Data collection has not started in St. James, where 49 settlements have been identified.
The household and population figures there are listed as ‘to be confirmed’.
Clarendon has the most settlements, at 75.
Next are Kingston and St. Andrew with 74, then St. Catherine with 64 and Westmoreland with 60.
Manchester has the fewest, with just two.
Kingston and St. Andrew have the largest number of households in informal settlements, at more than 11,000, followed by St. Catherine and Westmoreland.
On land ownership, 251 settlements are on government land, 172 are on private property, while 61 sit on a mix of both.
For 49 other settlements, there’s no ownership information.
The committee’s question to the Ministry referred to 600,000 people living in informal settlements, a figure far higher than what the survey has found so far.
The ministry says the government is pursuing two approaches.
It is regularising settlements that are suitable for people to keep living there, and relocating households from areas that are unsafe or at environmental risk.
The Housing Agency of Jamaica says it has, over the years, built infrastructure in some unfinished informal settlements so residents can qualify for titles.
But it says financial constraints mean it has only been able to do this as resources allow.
