PRIME Minister Dr Andrew Holness has argued that the major challenge for the availability of housing developments in Jamaica is not affordability but the scale of output.

Speaking at the Vineyard Town Housing Development handover ceremony on Wednesday, Holness argued that, as a small island state, Jamaica needs to be expanding housing developments rapidly to decrease demand and lower prices.

Holness comment came after Member of Parliament for St Andrew South Eastern, the Opposition’s Julian Robinson, called on the Government to be more proactive in ensuring that residents are not priced out of housing developments.

“What we have to bear in mind is that as the development takes place, it must take into account the people who live here, and the units must be built at a price that can accommodate those who live here,” said Robinson.

He agreed that there is a scaling issue, but argued that affordability remains the main challenge for many residents.

“The reality is that for places like this [Vineyard Town], it’s difficult to provide housing at a price point which takes care of the existing residents. When they [developers] buy a half-acre lot and they develop it, they’re going to be selling those units for $30, $40 million. That’s outside the reach of people who can afford something at $15 million or even $20, [milion],” added Robinson.

In response Holness said the Government is sensitive to the matter of affordability and has implemented programmes under the National Housing Trust (NHT) to increase access to affordable housing.

He argued that the Government’s efforts to increase access to affordable housing have caused an increase in demand, which results in price increases for these houses.

“In other words, our good effort to make home-ownership affordable to the average person, by giving all these concessions, increases the demand on the same supply of housing, and the prices keep going up. Now, the reason why we need scale, scale reduces the unit cost of each housing solution that you put on demand. And that is how the price comes down,” said Holness.

He added that one of the main constraints to solving the issue of scaling is the absence of usable land

According to Holness, in an effort to resolve the issue of scaling, the Government has tasked the NHT with developing large-scale developments.

“So, for the financial year 2026-2027, the NHT will commence another 10,675 solutions, and they will bring 5,673 housing solutions to the market, so they will start 10,675 in this financial year,” he explained.

The prime minister admitted that this will not be enough to meet the existing demand, but said the Government will be working closely with the NHT, through the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA), to identify developable lands along highway corridors to create low-income and affordable housing.

Robinson agreed that the solution to lower the price point of houses for young professionals is to find land in proximity to the Corporate Area for mass housing, which would combat the scaling issue.

“You have to identify other suitable land outside of the Corporate Area. You can’t build any mass housing in the Corporate Area, because all the land is taken. But you have to identify suitable lands, not far from Kingston, because most of the demand is in the Kingston area, where you can put down 500, 1,000 or 2,000 units,” added Robinson.

— Kevina Rowe