Old woman moved from rat-infested home

5:15 p.m. Friday, Oct. 8, 2010 – Minister of Housing Michael Lashley has ordered the immediate relocation of 73-year-old Dorothy Henry from Cats Castle in the City.
An hour after a tour earlier today, a location was found. She will be moving by 9:30 tomorrow morning to a two-bedroom wooden home at Plymouth Square, Cave Hill, St Michael.
Lashley visited the area earlier today and saw the sorry state the elderly woman was living in. The dilapidated and rat infested living conditions of Henry shocked the ministerial tour which also included MP for the area Patrick Todd .
She has been living there for over 20 years, sometimes sleeping across the front of the doorway, exposed to the elements.
“I need her moved from here immediately… we have to find somewhere for this lady to live now,” Lashley ordered personnel from the UDC.
Henry is one of two senior citizens that Lashley says needed immediate help.
The other, is 78 year-old Horace Jones at Padmore Village, St Philip whose home was to be fixed by the Rural Development Commission.
Although Jones has relocated, Interim Director of the RDC Randolph Outram pointed out that work on the house would commence in the next three weeks.
“We visited the house last week and we have made an assessment and within three weeks, work here will start. The contractors have already been told that the work on this home is to fast tracked, so we expect the work to be finished in about five or six weeks,” he says.