Dear Editor,

On this our 60th anniversary of Independence we can look back with pride at how housing has developed in Jamaica.

In terms of architectural grandeur, we have outclassed even developed nations. We have come a far way from wattle and daub, thatch laths, and bamboo homes. I sense, though, that if the housing ministry does not study trends and halt the incline in the market, we may very well return to pre-Independence level. I see that coming, the number of sprawling ghettos in the country is a telltale.

The housing market in any country is the pillar of that county’s economy. Housing touches on so many industries and services that it has a powerful ripple effect. Builders need labour, lumber, hardware, architects, electricians, shopping, shipping, legal advice, skilled labourers, etc. The consumer economy also benefits from the sale of furniture, appliances, garden supplies, among others.

It is every ambitious person’s aspiration to own a home. In the 1970s Michael Manley sought to motivate and mobilise Jamaicans to become homeowners. It was then that the National Housing Trust was birthed and families were able to qualify for housing schemes and build on own land loans. This gave birth to developments across the nation; Portmore was signature to this venture, so was Catherine Hall, Montego Bay.

In those days people called the houses matches box, but these houses proved that all Jamaicans need is a start and some motivation. The rest is history. These two referenced projects are now sought-after places in their respective locations.

It is of note that the housing market can’t keep up with the demand, nonetheless there is a great challenge. The cost of so-called low-income housing is prohibitive.

God alone knows how most Jamaicans survive. There is the high cost of low living and the low cost of high living.

I would like to challenge the Ministry of Housing to do a few things:

1) Devise a means of lowering interest rates on construction and home purchase loans. Currently, interest rates in the United States are trending up, but nothing to compare with Jamaica. Many Jamaicans hopes of acquiring a home has gone from a dream to a nightmare. Present interest rates are going to send us back from the future.

2) Escalation is killing the people. They can’t keep up with prices at the hardware stores, neither can they keep up with the builders’ prices. In 2020 a house in Collbeck phase two was going for $14 million. In their advertisement last week, pre-construction costs for phase three is now starting at $20 million plus escalation. Where is a middle-class family going to find money to service a loan of such magnitude? How about giving homestead exemption to people who are purchasing residential homes?

3) Build affordable houses in rural townships, like Black River, and establish income-generating ventures and industries to halt the exodus to city areas. This has caused the growth of urban slums. So many people migrate to the urban centres to eke out a living, but many have become disillusioned and resort to a life of criminality. Many parishes are on the brink of absolution

4) Upgrade building standards so that structures are less susceptible to natural phenomena. Parish councils should be more aggressive in enforcing building codes and town planning.

National Housing Trust has morphed into a highly complex web of confusion while raking in billions of dollars. It has become the cash cow of the Government, but I don’t see it building even starter homes to help the most vulnerable. Time to relocate people in the shanty towns spiralling along gullies, roadsides, and on capture lands so that when heavy rain and hurricanes come lives be not lost.

I call on the Ministry of Housing to do all in its powers to help more Jamaicans to access affordable and decent housing. It is the Government’s responsibility so to do.

Burnett Robinson

blpprob@aol.com