Eighty-seven-year-old Lillian Wynter was a picture of gratitude after being presented with the keys to her new house by Prime Minister Andrew Holness during a handover ceremony at Post Road, Woodhall, Clarendon, on Wednesday.

Wynter was one of two beneficiaries of houses in the Clarendon North Central constituency, provided under the Government’s New Social Housing Programme. The other recipient was 57-year-old Albert Logan of Goodon Hill, Trout Hall Pass, who received a one-bedroom house. Wynter’s house was constructed at a cost of $7 million, while Logan’s unit was constructed at a cost of $4 million.

“I feel good and I thank the Lord who spare[d] my life that I could live to see this new home,” a grateful Wynter said after receiving her keys.

The senior also heaped praises on Robert Morgan, member of parliament for the constituency, who made the recommendation for her to be a beneficiary under the programme.

Wynter will share the three-bedroom unit with her granddaughter, two great-grandchildren and a great-great-grandchild.

Prime Minister Holness said the provision of the house “will help to break the inter-generational poverty that the generations to come will have a roof over their heads.

“We are very happy to do this, because when … we look at where you were living, we believe nobody should be living in those circumstances. We believe that there is a minimum standard of shelter that every Jamaican should get,” he said.

The prime minister said that where there are persons living in deplorable conditions, it behooves the state to intervene and provide better conditions.

“They may not be able to pay for it, but that doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t get it. So we have devised this programme which is the New Social Housing Programme to go through each constituency and identify our Jamaican brothers and sisters who are … living in the worst of the worst conditions and we will intervene to build a housing solution for them,” he said.