Government Puts Focus on Delivering Housing Solutions

• Prime Minister, the Most. Hon. Andrew Holness says the National Housing Trust (NHT) is on track to make affordable homeownership a reality for more Jamaicans.
• “The plan was to distribute about 10,000 units [islandwide] by the end of 2022, but our schedule has been impacted by COVID-19. Even though, between the NHT, the Housing Agency of Jamaica (HAJ), the New Social Housing Programme and other programmes the government has undertaken, I am still confident we can get to that mark,” the Prime Minister pointed out.
• The government has been providing an average of about 6,000 units each year, three times the amount it once did, the PM said, and there is room for more private sector involvement.
• The NHT’s current goal is to provide 43,000 houses in the next five years. Notably, this will stretch them and the resources, which makes the onboarding of more private contractors important. However, while the demand for housing is good, and the facilities for mortgages available, the minister has noted that there are not enough contractors currently. “It’s not just having the contractors, but it is having the contractors that can deliver the quality of work,” he further added.
• The aforementioned therefore presents opportunities for the private sector and the construction sector.

(Source: JSE)