The NHT is now at limit – Holness

WESTERN BUREAU:

PRIME MINISTER Andrew Holness says the National Housing Trust (NHT) has reached its limit and is now moving to forge partnerships to fulfil its mandate of constructing affordable housing solutions for contributors.

Holness, who is the portfolio minister for the NHT, was speaking at Friday’s groundbreaking ceremony for 60 two-bedroom housing units at Sheffield Palms Development in Retreat, Westmoreland. The houses are being constructed under the NHT’s Guaranteed Purchasing Programme (GPP).

He lauded the housing agency for its financial management practices, but said that it is now time for consolidation.

“And I must say that each time that I say ‘build more houses’, the NHT says ‘how much Prime Minister?’ But I know that there is a limit to how much I can ask them (to build),” Holness said. “And the truth is that the NHT is now at that limit.”

Sheffield Palm developers are building 113 new housing solutions on 24 acres, at a cost of $907 million, including 60 two-bedroom units.

According to projections, the first set of the two-bedroom houses will be delivered to new homeowners by March 2024, and the remaining 30 by September 2024.

“These houses are targetted for persons working in the tourism sector, civil servants, law enforcement, teachers and so forth. So once you are within that income bracket you should be able to easily afford one of these units,” Holness stated.

HUGE SURPLUS

The GPP is a partnership between the NHT and developers whereby the NHT agrees to purchase for its contributors all or a portion of the units in housing developments created by private or public real estate developers. Over time, its contributors would repay the debt to the NHT under terms that are more affordable.

Under this arrangement, the developer assumes all risks associated with the planning, designing, financing and completion of the housing solutions, whereas the NHT assumes the marketing risk for the agreed number of houses.

Established in 1976, the NHT serves to address funding for affordable housing solutions at rates below those offered by private developers.

The Trust accumulated a huge surplus over the years, but much of it has been used by successive governments to address non-housing matters.

Under former Prime Minister P. J. Patterson, the government pulled $5 billion from the NHT’s coffers for an educational initiative in 2003.

A bill amending the National Housing Trust Act (NHTA) was passed in both Houses of Parliament, allowing the Trust to divert $5 billion in a one-off transfer to finance the upgrading of schools that financial year.

Under the leadership of Bruce Golding, the government used funds from the NHT to finance drought relief, a year after he was elected to office in 2007.

In 2013, another $45 billion was acquired over four years by the NHT.

Today, many Jamaicans continue to be without homes, and both administrations have since admitted that it was a poor decision to interfere with the NHT’s resources.