PORTMORE, Jamaica — Prime Minister Andrew Holness says the Government intends to significantly scale up its investment in housing solutions from 2020, as it tries to close a gap between supply and demand that he estimates grows by 15,000 homes every year.
Mr Holness was speaking at a Housing Agency of Jamaica ceremony in Greater Portmore, St Catherine, where dozens of homeowners were handed certificates of title, in some cases around 25 years after moving into their homes.
Housing starts climb
The Prime Minister said National Housing Trust housing starts had risen from 3,010 units in the 2016/17 financial year to roughly 8,600 in 2019/20. Even so, he argued, the country needs to do far more, and both the NHT and the Housing Agency of Jamaica should be empowered to build affordable homes for people across all income levels.
He also called for more creative ways of financing homes beyond the traditional mortgage, and pointed to Operation PRIDE, the land and settlement programme launched in 1994, as an example of an earlier initiative that now needs to be modernised.
Informal settlement a symptom of shortage
Mr Holness said the spread of informal settlements should be understood primarily as a result of a real shortage of affordable housing rather than as simple lawlessness. He added that the traditional approach of adding infrastructure piece by piece must change for reasons of fairness, and that future development should be balanced to limit urban sprawl while reviving areas where public money has already been invested.
For the Portmore families at the ceremony, the titles give them full legal ownership: the ability to pass their homes on to their children and to use the property as security for a loan.
The Prime Minister’s remarks suggest 2020 could bring more government-backed housing supply, which would be welcome news for first-time buyers and renters facing tight markets in St Catherine and the Corporate Area. For homeowners who, like the Portmore recipients, have lived for years without a registered title, the message is to pursue regularisation: a title turns a home into a bankable asset that can be borrowed against, sold with confidence or passed on without dispute. Investors should watch for details of any new financing models, which could open the market to a wider pool of buyers.
Follow Jamaica Homes on Youtube @jamaicahomes and Instagram @jamaica_homes and on Facebook @jamaicahomesnews Send us a message or email us at onlinefeedback@jamaica-homes.com or editor@jamaica-homes.com
Visit our YouTube Community ↗