AG defends report on social housing programmes
PS says gaps identitified being addressed
Published:Wednesday | June 18, 2025 | 12:12 AM
Auditor General Pamela Monroe Ellis has defended her performance audit report on the management of the Government’s social benefit programme, which came under strong criticism from Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness earlier this year.
The prime minister came out swinging against the report, which was tabled in January, calling the findings baseless and unfair.
He stated that Jamaicans accessing more than one benefit from the Government should not be necessarily viewed as duplication.
Holness argued that persons in need may turn to more than one state entity for help and that the Government, as a policy, does not believe in denying benefits to its citizens.
Monroe Ellis, who appeared before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee on Tuesday, reiterated that there was duplication in delivering the service to beneficiaries.
“It is a fact that there is duplication, it is a fact that there is overlap, and it is a fact that there is a substantial cost for managing the delivery of the social benefit,” she told members of the PAC.
However, the auditor general made it clear that her findings did not speak to duplication or overlapping of benefits paid to beneficiaries.
She argued that the focus was on the social benefit programme, adding that it was administered in a fragmented way which served as a disadvantage to beneficiaries.
“We are not saying that someone cannot benefit from more than one programme,” Monroe Ellis stated.
In her remarks, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation Arlene Williams said the New Social Housing Programme is unique as it is focused on full-unit construction and includes tenement upgrades and relocation of vulnerable residents.
The Social Housing Programme, on the other hand, is a grant-based programme where beneficiaries are provided with grants to assist with repairs or rebuilding efforts.
“Notwithstanding, we are pursuing a strategic review of the organisation’s structure for the two social housing programmes that are being run in our ministry.
“We have started by undertaking complete mapping of the process flows of both programmes with revised work flows developed to reflect recommended changes to our operations,” she added.
She said steps were being made to review and, where necessary, tighten the processes.
“We have, for example, revised our operations manuals for both programmes – that is the New Social Housing Programme, as well as those that fall under the Social Services Unit – to address the gaps identified.”