Gov’t Delivers On Inner City Housing

The government, in keeping with its commitment to provide Jamaicans with affordable housing solutions, last year handed over 580 housing units to       residents in Trench Town, Monaltrie, and Spanish-Town Road sites in Kingston.

            The units were constructed under the multi-billion dollar Inner-City Housing Project, which is being managed by the National Housing Trust’s (NHT).

Inner-City Housing Solutions

            Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, who presented the beneficiaries with the keys to their new homes, urged the mortgagees to make their payments on time, and to keep their surroundings pristine.

            At the Trench Town handing over in August, she reiterated that the use of NHT funds to provide housing for the poor and dispossessed would not affect contributors, but would instead, save thousands from living in squalor.

            "What we are doing here will not affect one person making a contribution to NHT, but it will help some people, who, if we did not care to do this, would be living in shacks," she stated. She pointed out that the provision of the housing units was more than "simply the provision of space. It is about the provision of dignity, pride and of self-esteem, a sense of stability, belonging and ownership".

            Two months later, at the Monaltrie handing over, the Prime Minister said she was committed to ensuring that all categories of workers could access affordable housing and that, toward this end, the NHT has been instructed to identify suitable lands on which houses could be provided for teachers, nurses, public servants and young professionals among others. 

            She expressed satisfaction with the work of the NHT during the 30 years it has been in existence but noted that there was a long way to go in addressing the housing needs of the country. 

            The $11.5 billion housing project is intended to construct 5,000 units by 2010 and involves urban communities in the KMA, St. Catherine, St. Mary and Westmoreland.

            Communities in Kingston identified to benefit under the ICHP are: Denham Town, Hannah Town, Majestic Gardens, Maxfield Avenue, Monaltrie, Spanish Town Road, Swallowfield, Tivoli, Trench Town, Parade Gardens, Tarrant, Prison Lands, and White Wing

            Beneficiaries are required to register with the NHT and develop a pattern of savings as a pre-condition for home ownership. All ICHP sites include planned open and green spaces; multi-functional buildings, which include homework centres, day-care centres, and training and recreational facilities.

            The project is a component of the government’s larger Urban Renewal Programme, which was launched in 2004, to promote sustainable development in the inner-city communities of the KMA, through the improvement of physical and social infrastructure, the creation of economic employment opportunities, and a general improvement in the quality of life for citizens in these communities.

Sugar Workers Housing Programme

            Inner-city residents were not the only ones to benefit from special housing provisions during the review period. The country’s hard-working sugar workers were not forgotten and the Sugar Workers Housing Programme moved a step further towards achieving its objective of providing housing solutions for more than 3,000 workers.

            The mass construction of one-bedroom units on sugar estates began in August 2006, with the workers having the option of building on their own land.             The first units are to be delivered by April in Monymusk, New Yarmouth, and Appleton. In the meantime, in November, 400 sugar workers at the Bernard Lodge Estate in St. Catherine received letters of possession for serviced lots.

            Speaking at the handing over function, Mrs. Simpson Miller said the programme, which was arrived at during the 2000 wage negotiation period, was “a fine example of what can be achieved when committed parties are united around a common purpose”.

            She said that dealing with the problem of housing would help to advance the cause of workers, who were seeking to improve their quality of life, and in this regard, the government remained determined to keep land ownership on the “most urgent list” of things to be accomplished.

            To date, the NHT has spent an estimated $1.7 billion on the sugar workers housing programme. Lots valued at $600,000 are  subsidised and sold to workers at a cost of $395,500.

            The $6 billion programme has also seen lots delivered in Bellrock (19), New Yarmouth (79), Monymusk (587), Frome (665), and Appleton (140). The remaining solutions are to be delivered by November 2007.

Housing for Low Income Contributors and Seniors

            The NHT was also requested to allocate half a billion dollars annually to bring the thousands of contributors in the country, who, because of insufficient earnings, could not qualify for a benefit.

            “When they qualify and have realized their dream of satisfactory shelter for themselves and their families, the NHT will determine the criteria for repayment based on what they can afford to pay in a sustained manner,” Prime Minister Simpson Miller explained, in her inaugural budget presentation in May.

            In addition, she disclosed that the NHT would be allocating a grant of $150 million to provide shelter solutions for the indigent, poor senior citizens, and the disadvantaged.  “These persons will have the benefit of shelter fit for human habitation for the rest of their lives,” she stated.