SPOT VALLEY, St James — Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness has thrown cold water on the Opposition’s promise to allocate $1 billion in grants that young aspiring homeowners can use towards their deposit.

Holness cited the proposal as an example of what he said were unrealistic promises being bandied about in the run-up to the general election.

“The politicians are promising you flying horses, like putting $1 billion to pay down deposits. You know how many people that would be?” he asked.

“Out of that cohort between 18 [and] 39 [years old] who would be considered young, you’re looking at over 40,000 people, and you are going to take $1 billion dollars to give 2,000 people. How are you going to choose them? And why would you give that category and not give to other categories of people as well?” queried the prime minister.

“I guarantee you, that horse can’t fly,” he added.

Holness was speaking during a ground-breaking ceremony for Brookside Estate Housing Development in Spot Valley, St James on Friday.

The People’s National Party has promised that if it forms the next government it will create a $1-billion Young Owners Deposit Fund within the National Housing Trust (NHT) which will allow young people under 35 who have contributed to the NHT for at least two years, to access a $500,000 deposit grant.

On Friday Holness contrasted that with accomplishments under the Administration he leads, such as the 418 one- and two-bedroom units being built by Chinese developer, Henan Fifth Construction Group, under NHT’s guaranteed purchase programme.

While admitting that the Government still has a way to go in meeting the demand for affordable housing, the prime minister urged aspiring home owners to closely examine promises to determine if they are implementable.

“This is the challenge that the society has because the society does not properly interrogate the promises that politicians make. We don’t take the time to properly analyse what the solutions are and what the challenges are,” he declared.

Holness then shared his view on what needs to be done to make home ownership possible for more Jamaicans.

“The real solution to this problem is to increase the number of houses that are specifically built for young families and young professionals; that is the real challenge… It is a supply problem, actually; there [are] not enough houses,” he stated.

“The effort of government policy, to solve problem, shouldn’t be on the demand side — meaning giving a subsidy to some people. The effort of the government should be on the supply side — increasing the number of houses,” the prime minister continued.

He also spoke of the importance of having a labour force that can build more houses.

“We need contractors who can build and build fast,” said Holness.

“We have been working with our local contractors and we have struck up good relations with the Henan Fifth Group, China Harbour our foreign partners who have come to support housing construction in Jamaica,” he continued.

“The truth is we need enterprise-level contractors who can take on massive projects and deliver them on time, without problem; and we have to be constantly working on that,” the prime minister stated.