THE Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) is looking to secure the votes of young Jamaicans in its bid to return to Government promising 25,000 housing units to people 35 years and younger, according to its recently released manifesto — the People’s Pledge.

The units are among 130,000 being promised by the party to be constructed over a five-year period as it moves to sustain the construction industry amid an ongoing coronavirus pandemic and a downturn in the tourism sector.

Additionally, it said 2,000 units will go to soldiers; 5,000 to teachers; 5,000 to hospitality workers; 5,000 to nurses; 5,000 to transport workers and taxi drivers; 5,000 to household helpers and gardeners; security guards are to get 5,000; public sector workers, 5,000; the disabled community, 1,000; police, 5,000; vendors and informal commercial importers are to get 3,000; entertainment industry, 5,000; and 54,000 will go to the general public.

The governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) has criticised the proposal, calling it improbable, but chairman of the PNP’s Manifesto Committee Damion Crawford, in an interview with the Jamaica Observer yesterday, indicated that the PNP intends to move full speed ahead if it gets to Jamaica House after the September 3 General Election.

“The first thing is that the JLP should understand that this must be done because of COVID-19. What COVID-19 has caused is for some of our reliable industries, such as tourism, to be unreliable. And so we’re going to find that there is a need to jump-start the economy with other activities. The most labour-consuming activity out there is construction, as well as infrastructure development, in particular under the People’s National Party’s next Government — water.

“They have said that only 80,000 [units] can be done in this time; that is because of their lack of creativity and their misunderstanding of the circumstances we face. We perceive that there will be a reduction in private investments in the Airbnb apartments that were often consumed for business, and there will also be a reduction in the large apartment buildings because persons will be saving more than buying,” Crawford argued.

He said the intention is to galvanise, with encouragement and commitment from the National Housing Trust (NHT), private contractors to participate in the process.

“We understand their perception of only 70 to 80,000, but we are very confident that we will be able to go 50,000 more at the price point, that we have been able to meet with contractors and say that it’s possible with the encouragement that will be given to contractors, which I will outline next week Monday for further conversation, and also with the great market that exists,” the one-time PNP senator said.

He said that the party is targeting $6-million starter units with a build-out plan for three-bedroom development.

The PNP vice-president explained that already the party has identified a methodology that will reduce the cost, with the Government-run NHT facilitating a portion of the infrastructure growth.

“So you’ll be able to get a one-bedroom with an established build-out plan to move into a three-bedroom. That means persons can start there and eventually carry it to an improved and better level. We also know that, on 700 acres of land, it is possible to do between 8,000 and 11,000 homes based on the topography of that land.

“Jamaica is not short of land and so we will be building more homes outside of Kingston as well, where much more lands are available, and the Government can boost that because we know that there are much more than 130,000 families out there who currently don’t own a piece of The Rock.

“So we are very much aware of the possibility of doing this, and with $60 billion at $6 million, we can almost fully fund 10,000 homes. So, with all the talk about COVID-19, this is very important because of COVID-19; not impossible due to COVID-19,” he stressed.

Meanwhile, the party is also proposing a rent-to-own programme, where it said individuals would pay rent for a consistent period of time, a portion of which would go towards the down payment on the home, then transition to ownership through a mortgage.

This, he said, is a novel idea by the PNP, which would cater to people already paying $70,000 to $80,000 in rent without having any asset to show for it.

He said this will spark a greater demand for the housing units, and “demand, as you know, drives supply, not the other way around”.

Additionally, the PNP said Jamaicans seeking to own their first house may be able to claim up to half of a year’s income tax for the purpose of a house purchase.

“We’ve also said that you can claim up to 50 per cent of your income tax for a down payment for your first home, and that again will help to drive demand. So because of the JLP’s lack of creativity they have been giving Jamaicans 70 per cent of what they deserve, and the People’s National Party will give Jamaicans 100 per cent of what they deserve,” he said as a parting shot.