Dear Editor,

Kudos to the young MP from St Ann, Dr Dayton Campbell for raising an issue of national significance: the true role and function of the National Housing Trust (NHT).

Too many ineligible Jamaicans are contributing to NHT. To many this may be seen as an obvious departure from the PNP script by Campbell, as the NHT is the PNP’s poster organisation. Campbell was recently quoted saying too many Jamaicans cannot access loans from the NHT despite contributing for years. The MP said the policy of giving these people refunds, instead of loans, does not help the goal of homeownership. He instead asked the governing PNP to increase the stock of low-income housing so that poor Jamaicans may own homes.

This level of open honesty from the political platform is refreshing and rather welcome from the young MP, who has been noted for rather uncouth remarks in the past. These recent comments, however, provide the PNP and the nation with the opportunity to impartially assess the functions and performance of the NHT in the context of the provisions of the NHT Act.

We must return to Hansard to determine the thought processes and originally intended purpose of the Trust as envisioned by the framers. For it is inconceivable that the intended purpose of the Trust was to become a slush fund for Government, while 75 per cent of contributors are unfit to access the promised benefits, which raises the ultimate question: Is the NHT the most efficient means of adding to and improving the existing housing stock? The primary function of the Trust, under the Act, must be analysed in the context of the growth of building societies and other parallel institutions, both public and private.

Therefore, while Dr Campbell may have ruffled some feathers in the PNP, the country will be further disadvantaged if we let slip, this ultimate point of departure to at least academically inquire into the functions, purpose and performance of the trust, with the aim of deciding whether the NHT is fulfilling its obligations to truly improve the country’s housing stock.

For, while we might be alarmed at the inability of the majority of contributors to meet the minimum qualifying criteria, any relaxation will exponentially, increase the risk of default and number of non-performing loans, which would inevitably impair the Trust’s future prospects. The same holds true for the Students’ Loan Bureau.

We might well come to the conclusion that the NHT, as conceived, is presently unable to provide affordable housing for the majority of contributors and therein lies the major contradiction of the NHT. If we wish to save Jamaicans from perpetual homelessness and the scourge of squatting we must rethink the NHT but we cannot thrust it carelessly aside.

Phillip A Chambers

phillipdcchambers@gmail.com