DAILY CARTOON: So Many Hands, So Few Houses

Three days, 189 homes and one online form. By eight o’clock tonight, thousands of hopes will be sitting in a queue on a server.

KINGSTON, Jamaica, 5 November 2026

The window closes tonight

The National Housing Trust opened applications at 8 a.m. on Tuesday 3 November for two new developments in St Catherine, and the window closes at 8 p.m. today. Catherine Estates, on Salt Pond Road between Spanish Town and Portmore, has 140 homes in this intake. The Villages of Colbeck Castle Phases 1 and 2, at Colbeck Pen near Old Harbour, has 49. That makes 189 homes in all.

Applications are accepted online only, through the Trust’s web portal. The Trust says it reserves a number of units in its developments for public sector workers, persons with disabilities and young adults aged 18 to 35.

Why the crowd is so big

Our cartoon shows what every intake looks like from the outside: nurses, teachers, tradesmen, young families and pensioners all tapping at once, all reaching for the same short row of houses. For many contributors, a scheme unit with a Trust mortgage is the only realistic route to ownership when commercial rates and open market prices have run far ahead of salaries.

Under the Trust’s rules, points count when you apply for a scheme loan. Contributors earn 20 points for every 52 weeks of contributions, plus between 70 and 110 points depending on their income band. For buyers who cannot afford the full price, the Trust can also defer up to 40 per cent of the cost of a unit.

If you are applying today

Have your contribution records, government ID, TRN and NIS details ready, and check that your name, date of birth, employment start date, parish and income are all correct before you submit. If you are self employed, make sure your contributions are up to date first. Do not leave it until the last hour, when the portal is likely to be busiest.

And if you miss this one, the Trust lists more developments as coming soon, including Hellshire 5 in St Catherine and Sevens in Clarendon.

One hundred and eighty nine doors are opening, and the whole island is knocking at once.