An MP has told Parliament that families in St Mary South Eastern have lived on and farmed land for generations without legal title, and is calling for a state led titling and housing programme.
KINGSTON, Jamaica: Generations of families in St Mary South Eastern have built homes and raised children on land they still do not legally own, the constituency’s Member of Parliament has told the House of Representatives.
Speaking during the State of the Constituency Debate last week, the MP called for a “structural reset” of the constituency centred on land ownership, affordable housing and the development of the Junction Main Road as an economic corridor, the Jamaica Observer reported on November 1.
The MP said the constituency is geographically the largest in St Mary but lags behind the parish’s other two constituencies.
Land still in the plantation pattern
According to the Observer, the MP traced the problem to history. For generations, he said, the constituency’s economy was organised around sugar and banana, with large estates controlling much of the productive land.
“Sugar is no longer king, banana is no longer king,” he told Parliament, adding that too much of the plantation structure remains, with land still largely outside the ownership and control of ordinary people.
“Their grandparents lived on the land, their parents lived on the land; they have raised their children on the land. They have built their homes there. They have farmed those lands and invested their lives in those communities. Yet, many still do not possess legal titles to those very lands,” he said, as reported by the Observer.
A call for state led titling
The MP proposed a large, state led land titling and land tenure regularisation programme for the constituency.
“We must identify lands that can be regularised, we must address long-standing ownership and tenure issues. We must examine how large tracts of land can be put to more productive use, and we must create real opportunities for ordinary families to own the lands on which they have built their lives,” he said.
The call echoes a wider concern. Speaking at a JIS Think Tank in October, the Chief Technical Director for Housing, Urban Renewal and Projects at the Ministry of Economic Growth and Infrastructure Development said many parcels of land across Jamaica remain unregistered, and that the absence of legal title often limits people’s ability to access financing or fully use their property, according to the Jamaica Information Service.
Housing beyond zinc and cement
On housing, the MP said families across the constituency live in homes needing major repair, made worse by Hurricane Melissa, and that housing prices are out of reach for young people.
“We cannot continue to address these conditions through the occasional distribution of a few sheets of zinc, a few bags of cement or a small housing grant,” he said. “Those things help, and I know they help, because we provide them every day, but they are not a housing development strategy.”
He called for a deliberate programme led by the State, the National Housing Trust and the Housing Agency of Jamaica to upgrade and expand the constituency’s housing stock, identify suitable lands for affordable housing and create opportunities for working families to own homes.
The Junction road as a corridor
The MP also argued that the Junction Main Road, which links Kingston and St Andrew with St Mary and the wider north east, should be treated as an economic development corridor rather than a road needing occasional patching, the Observer reported.
Why it matters for property
Land without a title is land that is hard to sell, mortgage, insure or pass on cleanly. A family that cannot show ownership is likely to struggle to borrow for repairs or expansion, which may help explain why hurricane damage in rural districts can linger.
If a titling and regularisation programme were to move forward in St Mary South Eastern, it could turn long held family land into property that can be used as security, and it may also make larger tracts available for planned housing.
No such programme has been announced. The proposals were made in a parliamentary debate and would need Government backing, funding and the cooperation of current landowners. For now, families occupying land without title may want to gather whatever proof of long occupation they hold, such as tax receipts, survey diagrams and family records, which could be useful if a regularisation exercise comes.
Visit our YouTube Community ↗