housing deficit
The NHT says it has invested a record $343 billion in housing over nine years as it pushes past 40,000 starts. The harder question is whether it is enough to close Jamaica’s deficit.
It’s easy to feel a twinge of panic when you hear the news: “More houses are up for sale now than…
Over the last 20 years, Jamaica’s housing market has moved through four distinct eras: the pre crisis years of the…
They promise growth, jobs, and modern housing, but the question is harder to ignore: development for whom?KINGSTON, Jamaica, January 2025…
The National Housing Trust has been told to stop building homes above $14 million, a direct attempt to stop public lending from fuelling the price inflation it is meant to ease.
A common criticism says the NHT does not build enough houses. But the law that created it framed it as a financier, not a builder. The real question is whether that founding purpose still fits.
England completed approximately 234,000 new homes in the year to March 2023, well below the government’s 300,000 annual target. The persistent undersupply reflects planning delays, financial constraints on development, and a political economy that consistently privileges existing residents over future occupants. For Jamaica, which faces its own structural housing deficit, the UK’s long struggle with supply is instructive.
The NHT plans to spend $46 billion on housing in 2024/25, with 750 units planned for St Elizabeth’s Friendship Oaks Phase 2. The investment signals growing institutional confidence in the parish’s housing market and sets the stage for a structural shift in the south coast’s residential landscape.
Jamaica’s housing deficit hits 130,000 units by 2024, says PIOJ. NHT-backed schemes like Caymanas target low-income families. Private developers pivot…
The UK rental market hit record highs in 2023, with letting agents receiving 25 enquiries per property as supply collapsed and demand surged. The dynamics of Britain’s rental crisis illuminate the structural vulnerabilities of any market that relies entirely on private investment to house its renting population, including Jamaica’s.
The NHT increasingly relies on guaranteeing the purchase of homes private developers build, a model that can accelerate affordable housing if oversight and price-point discipline hold.
The UK Social Housing Regulation Act 2023 received Royal Assent, introducing Awaab’s Law, which forces social landlords to fix hazardous conditions within strict timelines. Named after a two-year-old child who died from mould exposure his parents had repeatedly reported, the legislation carries profound lessons for housing accountability in Jamaica and across the Caribbean.
Kingston, Jamaica — 1 February 2022 Jamaica’s housing deficit is estimated at more than one hundred thousand units, a figure…
Kingston, Jamaica — 1 December 2021 Approximately twenty per cent of Jamaica’s population lives in a squatter settlement, according to…
The Government’s repeated drawdowns from the NHT raise a hard question: should money meant for housing balance the national budget? A look at both sides of a long-running tension.