KINGSTON, Jamaica — State Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister, Senator Abka Fitz-Henley, says the Holness administration has invested billions from the National Housing Trust (NHT) to respond to the need for shelter across the country, which has intensified in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa.

Fitz-Henley made the declaration during debate in the upper house of Parliament on Friday on a bill to continue a drawdown from the NHT for budgetary support, which commenced in 2013.

The state minister revealed that following Hurricane Melissa, the NHT has disbursed $1.9 billion in home grants to 5,078 households at approximately $500,000 each following the passage of the hurricane last October