GOVERNMENT backbencher, Ronnie Thwaites, yesterday urged the National Housing Trust (NHT) to extend its benefits to persons below the poverty line who earn income irregularly, in an effort to discourage squatting in the island.

Thwaites, who represents the depressed urban constituency of Central Kingston, reiterated his proposal during a debate on a resolution moved by Opposition member, Shahine Robinson (North East St Ann), calling on the administration to halt plans to relocate squatters from the Seville property in her constituency.

While declaring that she does not condone squatting “in no way, shape or form”, Robinson argued that to relocate the squatters to Dumbarton, 20 miles away, would be socially dislocating.

“The majority of these people have lived there (on the Seville property) for more than 25 years,” she claimed.

The Seville property is a heritage site, with excavations of one of Jamaica’s earliest slave plantations. It is also the area where Christopher Columbus beached a caravel during his last trip to the West Indies. Archeologists have searched for the ship in recent digs.

However, the government has major plans for the development of the Seville property, leading to the debate about what should be done with these squatters and the problem of squatting in the country generally.

For Thwaites, ways can be found to assist poor people to access alternative housing development and he believed that the NHT, a government agency funded by employee and employer contributions, can provide the solution.

The NHT, Thwaites said, had done well under several People’s National Party (PNP) administrations in providing shelter for the population. But he argued that a special effort was necessary to address the needs of persons at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder.

Said Thwaites: “A certain sum has to be put aside and a certain category of membership recreated which allows people to make payments and to qualify in a different order than those that (the NHT) presently recognises.

“The category of membership has to increase. No society with the level of rank unemployment that we have can let it remain the way it is.”

“It is not a question of charity… It can be a structured thing where people are recognised as being able to pay smaller amounts…,” he added.

The proposal for this special category of membership was before the board of the NHT for its consideration, Thwaites said.

Currently, eligibility for NHT benefits is based on a minimum period of contributions and borrowers from the scheme can utilise a range of programmes, from loans to build on their own land to mortgagees for purchases on the open market or developments in which the trust has a stake.

Interest rates are significantly below what prevails in the open market — at two per cent for people who earn below $1,500 weekly; four per cent for those who are earning between $1,500 and $4,500 weekly, and eight per cent for those who earn between $4,501 and $9,000. At the top end the interest rate is 12 per cent.

Thwaites received support for his proposal for a special category of NHT members from colleagues Errol Ennis and Charles Learmond.

Meanwhile, Colin Campbell, minister of information, advised Robinson and the legislature that it would be unwise to halt the development of the Dumbarton site to relocate the squatters.

He urged Robinson to encourage settlers, who could, to access NHT benefits to acquire housing in Dumbarton; while seeking alternative financing methods for non-NHT members.

In his remarks, Andrew Holness, Opposition spokesman on housing, pointed to the weaknesses of government’s squatter management programme, Operation PRIDE.

He restated the Opposition’s position to address the housing needs of public servants at the NHT and focus PRIDE on solving situations involving squatting. Holness further proposed the provision of public housing for the poor and for them to be charged rent.