MASS poverty was the bane of post-Colonial Jamaica. No aspect of public or private life bared the indelible scars of this national crucible like the shantytowns that thousands called home.

Private entrepreneurs began to tackle the chronic housing shortage in the early days after Independence with the late Mayer Matalon and his siblings leading the charge. Maurice Facey, who died this year, was among the early pioneers.

By the mid-1970s it became clear that solving the population’s real estate needs was beyond the immediate capacity of individual developers; that meaningfully narrowing the yawning gap between demand and supply would require Government intervention on a scale that had never before been attempted.

The National Housing Trust (NHT) represented the beginning of a paradigm shift in community development and housing solutions for Jamaicans. Through its formation in 1976, Prime Minister Michael Manley gave legislative expression to the urgings of Matalon that an institution that pooled resources for low interest rate mortgages would spur private developers into action.

The statutory obligation of employers to pay over the equivalent of five per cent of their wage bill to fund the housing agency seems, on the face of it, a statist overreach into private domain.

But apart from the fact that the tax was in pursuit of an urgent and noble national goal, private sector corporations that either build houses or provide mortgages and related services are major beneficiaries of what in practice has been a constructive and symbiotic public/private partnership.

The NHT intervenes in the housing market in several ways. By far its most impactful role is that of mortgage provider to qualified contributors who can either use the loan to buy a house on the open market, or mix it with additional funding from a building society if the agency’s portion is insufficient to complete the acquisition.

Short-term loans to private housing developers with whom the NHT partners for the building of schemes represent another mechanism by which it provides solutions to the country’s housing needs. This is its most direct role as a facilitator of local entrepreneurism.

It also makes loans available directly to individuals who opt to build on land they already own, and the agency is itself one of two largest builders of housing schemes in the country.

There is no doubt that 51 years after Independence, comprehensive housing solution remains a work in progress and the island still has its fair share of blighted inner-city communities.

But the landscape has vastly improved, thanks to the NHT. Even families who have yet to realise their dreams can envision a realistic pathway to homeownership.

Here are the numbers: since inception and up to March 31, 2013, the mortgage provider has had a direct hand in 93,718 housing solutions. It has been a prolific developer with nearly 42,000 housing units to its credit in dozens of schemes scattered across the entire length and breadth of the island.

Many of the housing solutions have come by way of individuals tapping directly into the agency’s resources to fund building projects — on their own land.

Additionally, the NHT has either provided construction loans or interim finance to third-party developers with which it partners in housing schemes.

None of this takes into account the fact that the NHT, as a provider of mortgages, facilitates thousands of housing solutions within the open market.

Perhaps the single statistic that best captures the contribution that the agency has made to homeownership over the past 37 years is the number of mortgages it has provided — 173,055.

The breathtaking number includes open market benefits and all the other avenues through which individuals can access loans from the mortgage provider.

The NHT’s current mortgage portfolio of $148 billion is yet another measure of the weight it wields within the housing market.

Over the past 10 years, the agency has funded 6,530 interim housing solutions, meaning that it forged direct partnerships with private sector developers to bring these units to fruition. Over the period, it outlaid $8.79 billion on this aspect of its operation.

Typically, each year the bulk of the NHT’s loans are taken up by Fund contributors who are seeking to buy houses on the open market. For example, of the over $24.6 billion in mortgages that were approved between 2010 and 2011, two-thirds went to individuals in this segment.

The primary factor that drives the demand for NHT loans is the fact that the interest rate is much lower than what can be negotiated at other mortgage lenders. The subsidy enables borrowers to seek additional commercial funding to acquire houses that are beyond the agency’s own lending limit.

The net effect is that the State-owned mortgage provider is a key driver of middle and upper-middle end private sector housing development in Jamaica. The fact is that these units would simply fall outside the reach of many customers if they had to depend purely on private mortgage providers for funding.

In the case of lower and middle-income housing development, the NHT’s role in facilitating private entrepreneurism is even more direct. The case of the Matalon-founded West Indies Home Contractors Ltd (WIHCON), which has built close to 50,000 houses since the 1960s, is illustrative.

Back in the 1970s, Matalon himself, recognising that without a meaningful and sustained source of cheap long-term funding, proper housing would remain beyond the reach of ordinary folks, outlined the broad contours of the agency that he envisioned to the Manley Administration.

The NHT’s presence within the market as a reliable provider of accessible mortgages gives private sector developers like WIHCON comfort to invest billions of dollars in mass housing settlements.

The communities that they construct have not remained static. Many are immediately transformed into architectural mosaics by enthusiastic owners who use the original designs and amenities as the foundation to move up and across.

The bulk of the capital to support the NHT’s mission of providing housing solutions to ordinary folks is primarily generated by statutory deductions — the two per cent of each worker’s monthly income and the equivalent of three per cent of the employer’s wage bill that is remitted to the agency every month. In the 2010/11 financial year the mortgage provider earned $18.5 billion from this source.

Interest earned on loans and financial investment is another important income stream.

The NHT’s constant search for affordable housing solutions encompasses ideas on housing design, policy initiatives — just about anything that will enable the delivery of houses at a more affordable cost.

It regularly holds designer competitions with the hope of finding a breakthrough in least-cost construction.

Its partnerships with the private sector for various services from architectural designs to product procurement and housing construction are done by way of competitive tender, to ensure that products are delivered at competitive prices.

There are other initiatives designed to further open its doors to more beneficiaries. For example, through a programme called Parent Assist, parents over 65 years old who are NHT contributors but who have never benefited from the scheme can assign their benefit to one of their children.

In recent years, applicants have been allowed to use the cash they have built up at the NHT through their monthly salary deduction as deposit towards buying a house.

The agency has also doubled the time that it requires beneficiaries who borrow to build, to begin repaying the loan. It has also waived the five per cent deposit that purchasers in its own schemes once had to upfront to acquire the unit.

Additionally, it constantly expands its mortgage limit in response to ever-changing market conditions.