Patricia Green | Case for affordable housing, inclusive living

“…Monkey hab im han inna lion mout im tek time pull it out…” is a wise Jamaican proverb that translates into, if you find yourself in trouble, carefully extricate yourself out of it.

Could this be the enduring message for Kingston that was delivered by Colombian urban development expert Enrique Peñalosa, former Bogotá mayor? Peñalosa was in Kingston to deliver the 2024 Honourable Maurice Facey Lecture on October 8, titled “A city for people: reimagining Jamaica’s transportation system”, where he emphasised the beauty of the location and setting of Kingston.

Peñalosa engaged thinking about what kind of city is most desirable, suggesting one that is developed for people and transformed into a safe and pleasant place for walking, which focuses on the vulnerable, handicapped, elderly and children as its key stakeholders. He emphasised removing inequity from the city, actions that would require doing things that are difficult, controversial, even involving political costs. Would such radical interventions lead to a safer sustainable Kingston?

These conversations took place amid various conflicts in the urban environments of the Caribbean. Barbados had its first mass shooting. Haiti remains constantly in the news with ongoing political unrest. The latest has come from Martinique, an overseas territory of France, where people are protesting against the high cost of living. The food prices are 40 per cent higher in Martinique than in France, which has resulted in widespread unrest, the protesters overran the tarmac of the airport, amid rumours of French police landing there. The airport was shut down and the island remains under curfew until October 21.

ADVOCATED INCLUSION

Peñalosa advocated inclusion, considerations towards the poor, discourses which are embodied in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. ‘Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable’ is Goal 11. It speaks to ongoing rapid urbanisation that outpaces the development of housing, infrastructure and services, suggesting that this may lead to a rise in slums or slum-like conditions in cities.

Could it be that riots in Martinique carry deeper implications? Across Caribbean cities arise continuous cries to redress inequities from colonial land tenure, with demands for affordable housing ownership. Peñalosa pleas to take back the city from motor cars and return it to the people may be added to this. The Associated Press reminded that France abolished slavery in 1848 and that Martinique has been asking for reparations. In 2022, its reparation cry became admissible by the European Court of Human Rights, enjoining wider claims across the Caribbean.

Caribbean son, political philosopher and psychiatrist Frantz Fanon who was born 1925 in Martinique, authored The Wretched of the Earth (1961). The chapter ‘Concerning Violence,’ expounds “…national liberation, national renaissance, the restoration of nationhood to the people, commonwealth: whatever may be the headings used or the new formulas introduced, decolonisation is always a violent phenomenon…”. Fanon elaborates decolonisation as – replacing of a certain “species” of men by another “species” of men; setting out to change the order of the world; influencing individuals and modifying them fundamentally. Would all these Caribbean unrests, rioting, and curfews with police and military actions be about urban human rights issues?

Colombia began to redress human rights issues as central to sustainable urbanisation. Approximately 54,334 regularisations of titling occurred by March 2021. Social housing ownership became the main housing policy pillar. Between 2011 and 2020, around two million housing units of all types were built, with approximately 44 per cent affordable. This integrated transport, land use, climate change and urban policies. Peñalosa pioneered its crucial transportation strategy in the Bogotá capital. Municipalities planned new housing districts with multi-modal transportation infrastructure.

What is the affordable housing vision for Kingston? How is this linked to transportation? Why are families forced to live outside of Kingston, with long commutes along motorised highways and widened traffic corridors, for work and school?

The Jamaica Vision 2030 promotes becoming a developed nation by 2030, and what does this look like?

POLICY INCENTIVES

Developed countries of Europe and North America have policy incentives for development projects. In these cities ‘affordable housing’ units usually for purchase, and ‘social housing’ implying rentals, are requirements of luxury residential and commercial developments. Interestingly, Denmark social housing is available to all income groups, accounting for about 20 per cent of all the housing stock.

Paris, France, reported The Guardian of July 20, passed a law in 2000 that 25 per cent of all housing stock in urban municipalities must be social housing, with fines against developers who failed to meet the minimum. Its target is 40 per cent or more than 4,000 units by 2035, with at least 20 per cent being affordable, reported PD&R Edge, on October 3, 2023.

In the UK, before being allowed to proceed, developers have optional mandates: (1) include in all new residential developments at least 30 per cent affordable housing; (2) provide affordable housing elsewhere in the borough; (3) make a payment to the Council’s affordable housing fund. One infamous case from 2022 in London is the adaptive re-use of the historic Old War Office development near the prime minister’s residence on Downing Street, converted into 85 luxury flats and a 120-room five-star Raffles hotel. One of these is a four-bedroom flat that sold for more than £40m. The planning rules required 8,000 square metres of affordable housing to provide about 98 units. The developers omitted on-site affordable housing, stating that such provisions would not be practical or viable, instead finally giving funding to the Borough amidst debates about the equivalencies of those funds.

New York is amending its zoning laws to convert office buildings into residencies and developers may receive a 20 per cent density bonus to add lower-cost apartments. The Los Angeles Times of August 31, 2022 stated that the most visible example of a mixture of market-rate and affordable units was the ‘Grand LA,’ a 510-foot downtown tower designed by super-star architect (‘starchitect’) Frank Gehry, containing 436 apartments. There are 89 affordable units, and 66 were reserved for people with limited mobility, sight or hearing.

Consider the call by Peñalosa relating to the 1692 Kingston city plan with its tiny Water Lane and Mark Lane, significant features globally in historic cities. Why do development proposals show widening these lanes for motor vehicle parking in downtown Kingston?

Should developers in Kingston be mandated to provide affordable units inside their luxury residential, commercial, and/or mixed-use developments? Alternatively, should developers be bound to provide affordable housing elsewhere in Kingston? May we undertake regeneration of existing Kingston housing stock through such concrete actions.

Patricia Green, PhD, a registered architect and conservationist, is an independent scholar and advocate for the built and natural environment. Send feedback to patgreen2008@gmail.com and columns@gleanerjm.com