OPPOSITION spokesman on housing and sustainable living, Senator Professor Floyd Morris wants Parliament to take steps to ensure the National Housing Trust (NHT) is returned to its core mandate of building affordable housing for Jamaicans.

Morris also wants the Government to end the annual extraction of $11.4 billion from the NHT for budgetary support, and to use these funds to build affordable houses for contributors.

He made the call as he moved a motion in the Senate last Friday, during which he also called for the Parliament to recognise the achievements and 50th anniversary milestone of the NHT.

Morris noted that NHT was established by the Michael Manley Government in 1975, “within the context of a foundational principle of social justice and a recognition that shelter is a right for our citizens”.

He highlighted that NHT has led the transformation and modernisation of Jamaica’s housing stock, as can be seen in the more than 300,000 houses that have been built either directly or via the build-on-own-land option.

This, he said, has impacted the lives of more than one million Jamaicans over the past 50 years.

Continuing, Morris said: “Whereas every time a Jamaican receives a key to a house built by the NHT or mortgage provided by the institution, the beneficiaries should be reminded that the Most Honourable Michael Manley established this transformational institution at a time when there was much resistance to its creation.

“And whereas its visionary policy has proven the naysayers wrong, as in every constituency and community across Jamaica a housing scheme or house has been built out of funds from the NHT.

“And whereas wattle and daub, thatch houses, and bamboo houses have been eradicated across Jamaica and this is attributable to the transformational role of the NHT.

“And whereas the NHT has not just built houses, it has built communities and cities as evidenced by the fact that the sunshine city of Portmore was advanced through funding from the NHT under the San Jose Accord.”

Morris called attention to the fact that, in and around housing schemes built by NHT, there are schools, hospitals, health centres, fire stations, police stations, and sports facilities that have been constructed, thereby establishing more complete and cohesive communities.

He said the NHT has been a beacon of hope in national development as it has played a pre-eminent role in the construction industry, creating jobs for many thousands of Jamaicans, and releasing billions of dollars into the economy on an annual basis. This money, he said, “filters down into communities, thus generating much-needed economic activity across the country”.

Shortly after being named to the shadow cabinet last September, Morris told the Jamaica Observer that he would be pushing to ensure that the Government brings affordable housing to the market.

“Affordable housing is going to be a continued priority for the People’s National Party. We believe that that is the mandate of the National Housing Trust. We believe that the NHT needs to focus on the building out of more affordable houses for Jamaicans,” Morris said then.

“It cannot be that what we’re seeing coming to market are houses that are costing over $20 million and the ordinary college graduate cannot get a house that falls within his or her income band. So, we will be pressing for that and we will be making sure that we will be pressing for the [National] Housing Trust to adhere to its original mandate to provide affordable housing,” Morris said.

During his budget presentation in March 2025, Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness revealed that he had mandated the NHT not to construct any houses above the $14-million price point, going forward.

Having earlier announced an increase in the loan limit for individual contributors from $7.5 million to $9 million effective July 1, 2025, during his Budget speech Holness said: “Each time we increase the loan limit, we notice an increase in the price of houses — it is the most frustrating thing.”

He acknowledged that it is a matter of economics that when the loan limit is increased it affects demand as more people seek houses than there are in the market.

“So what we’ve done is to give a greater loan limit for houses that are going at what we call the affordable price point. The affordable price point for the NHT is $14 million. In fact, we have given a policy directive to the NHT that all their resources should now be directed at producing houses that are around this price point,” Holness told the House of Representatives.

Stressing that the NHT will not get involved in any new development of houses above this price point, the prime minister, who is also the minister of housing, said the houses will not always be constructed for exactly $14 million, “but you have to be in that target range, because the truth is that the real housing crisis is in the low-income and affordable housing market”.

The National Housing Trust offices in New Kingston