Holness administration claims record for most houses built

Prime Minister Andrew Holness has declared that the Government is committed to solving the country’s housing and land settlement issues.

Already, he said, his administration holds the strongest record in housing.

According to a release from the Office of the Prime Minister, the National Housing Trust (NHT) is on track to build 22,000 homes by the end of this financial year, the most housing solutions built by a single administration.

The prime minister made the comments on Friday during his keynote address at the ground-breaking ceremony at Rhyne Park Estate in St James.

“The NHT is now on track to build 22,000 housing solutions by the end of this financial year, the most that have ever been built by any administration in any term. The Housing Agency of Jamaica (HAJ), that was an agency that was on my chopping block, one of the agencies that was plagued by corruption, I said we can’t have this agency. Dr Horace Chang, then minister without portfolio with that ministry, pleaded with me and said, we can turn it around, and that agency has been turned around. It has been moved from a loss-making agency with bad audit reports to an agency that is about to make a surplus. More than that, they have now started to deliver housing solutions at the price point that people can afford,” said Holness.

In that regard, the prime minister underscored that in less than a decade, the Government will be able to solve the housing and settlement problems in Jamaica.

The prime minister stated that this can be done through increasing the housing construction to realise 5,000 to 10,000 houses per year in planned communities.

According to the prime minister, the Government has made it easier for individuals to own their own homes in Jamaica with affordable prices and easy access to financing.

“What this Government has done with its emphasis on housing, with its emphasis on building, with its emphasis on creating sustainable communities that will retain value for the people who invest in them so that they can pass on that value to the next generation, is to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty through the development of housing and community,” said Holness