WITH nearly one in five Jamaicans living in informal or squatter settlements, the People’s National Party (PNP) is committing to cut into what it says is a 190,000 housing deficit on the island.

This is part of its strategy to sway voters its way in the September 3 General Election. The party details its plans for housing in its 2025 General Election Manifesto which was launched Tuesday night at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston. It is committing to restore dignity through land and shelter, stating that “every Jamaican deserves a safe and secure place to call home”.

It cited that hundreds of thousands remain locked out of land and home ownership and that unaffordable housing continues to fuel poverty, hopelessness, and crime.

“The People’s National Party is committed to restoring dignity by securing land rights, building affordable homes, and transforming communities. We will build not just houses, but the foundation for a fairer society,” the manifesto states.

It repeats the party’s election campaign promise of fixing the National Housing Trust (NHT) by discontinuing the annual withdrawal of $11.4 billion for budgetary support, thus enabling the NHT to comprehensively carry out its mandate.

The PNP says it will restore the NHT to its original purpose of financing and building affordable housing for contributors. To this end it will undertake an “aggressive programme” to build 50,000 affordable houses on public lands across Jamaica not suitable for agriculture over the next five years. It will exclude the value of land from the price of these homes to make ownership more accessible.

The manifesto also repeats another campaign promise — a NHT Rent-to-Own Programme to help self-employed and informally-employed persons (who cannot produce a payslip to prove their income so as to qualify for a mortgage) to go into possession of the house as a tenant and access mortgages after six months of honouring their rental payments so as to become owners.

“This programme will also allow tenants to allocate a portion of the rent towards the deposit on the house, so that over time they can pay down on the house, access a mortgage, and move from tenancy to ownership of the house.”

There is also the promise to establish a $1 billion Young Owners Deposit Fund (replenished annually) within the NHT to enable persons up to 45 years old to access non-refundable grants of $500,000 to cover the deposit on the purchase of their first home, once they have contributed for at least two years to the NHT.

And the PNP will restore reduced interest rates for public sector workers such as teachers, nurses, the police, correctional and military officers, and provide an interest rate reduction for persons with disabilities.

The manifesto also outlines a three-month grace period before mortgage payments begin after purchasing their home, to enable them to furnish it, etc. A PNP Administration will also apply a preferred 40 per cent debt service ratio to support public sector workers in qualifying for larger NHT loans.

— Lynford Simpson