‘I can’t even walk on my own land’

A 68-year-old man’s lifelong dream of owning a home is in jeopardy amid claims that the Ministry of Housing has encroached on his property in Spanish Town, St Catherine.

Fighting back tears, Willie Rowe said his long-held ambition was derailed last year when he visited Lot 6, Naseberry Grove, to lay out the foundation for his house and discovered that a section of the land had been fenced off by another party.

“I asked my neighbour if they see who do dat. They said they don’t know who but is some ministry man – some government people,” he recalled.

As he searched for boundary pegs to confirm that his land had been trespassed on, the market vendor told The Sunday Gleaner that he purchased the property in 2022 through a mortgage arrangement with the National Housing Trust (NHT) for approximately $2.5 million.

He later received a grant from the state agency to build a two-bedroom house and began preparations under its supervision. However, he said delays in the assignment of a project manager meant the land had to be re-laid several times.

It was not until early last year that a project manager was finally assigned and Rowe was instructed to visit the site to meet with the contractor and project manager.

“When we meet here, I come and see line out and poles on my land,” he said.

Confused by the discovery, Rowe said it marked the start of months of visits to several government agencies in the Corporate Area in search of answers.

“I run by Ardenne Road (National Land Agency), then I moved from there, they send me to Dominica Drive at the Ministry of Housing. When I go to Ministry of Housing at Dominica Drive, they said they don’t know of it as such in the first place. I go up by Cross Roads at HAJ (Housing Agency of Jamaica), they send me back to Dominca Drive and seh is Dominica Drive responsible for the matter is not them,” he said.

“When I go [back] there now, they look at my documents for the second time, and they say they going to come back to the land. They sent two men. They said they would have sort me out, and I have to stop what me doing … ,” he recalled.

“I [asked] them how long would I have to [wait to] contact Housing Trust for them to come and continue the land, being that the matter going to sort out from the Ministry of Housing point of view, they said about three years before I can even plant anything on the land or continue with the lineout,” he continued.

Frustrated and dissatisfied with this response, Rowe said he returned to the NHT to report that the Ministry of Housing was infringing on his land and to seek advocacy. But he was advised to retain a lawyer.

In response to queries from The Sunday Gleaner, the NHT said allegations of encroachment must be pursued by the registered property owner, supported by evidence. The institution noted that while it holds a mortgage, it is not the legal owner and therefore cannot assert ownership rights.

Documents reviewed by The Sunday Gleaner show that title for Lot 6, Naseberry Grove, was transferred to Rowe in January 2022. A title search also revealed that the Ministry of Housing owns the neighbouring Lot 8, acquired in 1991.

The NHT further stated that if the allegation is that the Ministry of Housing has encroached, the registered owner must formally write to the ministry with evidence and request an investigation and, if necessary, rectification.

With financial assistance from his church, Rowe was eventually able to retain legal counsel, who he said wrote to the Ministry of Housing several months ago. A response was received only last week.

The housing ministry told The Sunday Gleaner that it is investigating the allegations of encroachment, and is committed to completing them by February 13, 2026.

It noted that Rowe submitted a letter in September 2025, outlining his claims.

But while the request was received in September, the site visit was scheduled and undertaken in December 2025, to accommodate Rowe’s availability, as he was required to be present, the ministry said.

“The necessary searches were done to locate the relevant deposited plans which relate to the lots in question and a report on the findings prepared for transmission to the HAJ on January 28, 2026, along with the letter from Rowe, to enable them to undertake their own internal investigations,” the ministry noted.

But reflecting on the years of sacrifice he made as a self-employed contributor to the NHT, Rowe said he cannot help but feel let down by how he is being treated by the state agencies.

“I cannot understand this phenomenon. It’s a situation I can’t comprehend, I can’t understand, I think the Ministry of Housing and the Housing Trust would have been the one to protect me, instead the Ministry of Housing and the Housing Trust is not…I don’t see my right there, I have to be looking elsewhere to get my right,” he told The Sunday Gleaner.

Describing his living conditions over the last 25 years as “no place of meaningfulness”, the father of two said he lives in a one-room dwelling which has no kitchen or bathroom. He makes a living by buying and selling castor oil, kitchen utensils and pillows.

Rowe said the emotional distress that he has undergone over the last year has been heightened by the financial pressures he is still undergoing.

“It rough, it rough, but I am still making the sacrifice to pay my mortgage. I spend above two payment just bout two weeks ago, to pay the housing trust for mortgage, two months payment in one, $35,000 and $35,000 for mortgage,” he said, displaying receipt that showed his last mortgage payment on January 13.

“[Paying for] the same land that I cannot walk on, on the same land that I cannot do any farming on,” he said.

sashana.small@gleanerjm.com