Dear Editor,
Jamaica’s housing conversation too often begins and ends with the number of houses being built. We celebrate new schemes, new developments and new units, but we rarely ask the more important question: what kind of life are people actually buying into?
A house is not enough.
A family may finally qualify for a mortgage, collect the keys and move into a brand-new home, only to discover that the nearest reliable supermarket is miles away, the school run is exhausting, public transport is poor, traffic consumes hours of the working day and basic services have not kept pace with construction.
That is not simply a housing problem. It is a planning problem.
As Kingston and other established urban areas become increasingly expensive, more Jamaicans will naturally look farther afield for somewhere affordable to live. There is nothing wrong with that. In fact, the growth of communities outside the traditional urban core could be one of the healthiest changes in Jamaica’s property market.
But cheaper land should not become an excuse for creating dormitory communities where thousands of people sleep at night and spend the rest of their lives travelling somewhere else.
Good housing must be connected to employment, schools, healthcare, shops, recreation, reliable utilities and transport. Children should have places to play. Older people should be able to reach essential services without an exhausting journey. Working adults should not have to sacrifice three or four hours of their day simply because home ownership pushed them farther away from their jobs.
We also need to rethink what we mean by a “good location”.
For generations, property value has often been associated with proximity to established centres. But surely a genuinely good location is somewhere that allows people to live well.
A slightly more distant home with reliable roads, nearby schools, employment opportunities, green space and proper services may ultimately offer a family far greater value than a smaller, more expensive property that happens to have a fashionable address.
Developers also have a responsibility here. The success of a housing scheme should not be measured only by how quickly every unit is sold.
The real test comes five, ten or twenty years later.
Has the development become a thriving community? Can people walk safely? Are the roads coping? Is drainage working? Are there businesses, schools and services nearby? Have residents gained a better quality of life?
Those questions should matter just as much as square footage and selling price.
Jamaica desperately needs more housing, particularly housing ordinary working people can realistically afford. But in solving one problem, we must be careful not to create another.
The country should not simply be putting roofs over people’s heads.
We should be building places where Jamaicans can actually live.
Concerned Homebuyer
St Catherine
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