300 on the List, 20 Houses a Year: An MP Wants NHT Loans to Pay for Food For The Poor Homes

• North West St Ann MP Dr Dayton Campbell proposed letting low-income NHT contributors borrow to pay for Food For The Poor houses
• His constituency had 300 people waiting for FFP homes
• The area received only about 20 FFP units a year
• A two-bedroom FFP unit cost about US$6,000 (about J$700,000) to build

Food For The Poor builds hundreds of homes a year in Jamaica, but in 2015 one MP said demand in his constituency far outstripped supply. The Jamaica Observer, carrying a JIS report in September 2015, said Dr Dayton Campbell, Member of Parliament for North West St Ann, had proposed that low-income earners be allowed to take National Housing Trust loans to pay for the Christian charity’s houses.

“We have in the constituency a list of 300 persons who are waiting to obtain the Food for the Poor unit,” Campbell said. “We can’t respond to this, because we only get 20 per year.”

The cost of a two-bedroom FFP unit was about US$6,000, or roughly J$700,000. Campbell argued that many people on the waiting list were NHT contributors who could afford a small mortgage for a house at that price. “These persons have been contributing and the fact is, the majority of them could gain access to land and they could be able to pay that mortgage,” he said.

The proposal combined two parts of Jamaica’s housing system that usually work separately: the charity model, where homes are donated to the poorest, and the NHT, where workers’ contributions fund mortgages. By using NHT loans to pay for low-cost FFP designs, more families could move off waiting lists.

The idea remains relevant. Some Jamaicans who contribute to the NHT struggle to use their benefits because even the cheapest homes on the market are beyond them. A partnership that lets contributors borrow modest sums for basic, sturdy houses on land they own could stretch both charity and NHT money further. For churches, which can help members apply for FFP homes, and for diaspora relatives helping family secure land, it is a proposal worth revisiting.