The Editor, Sir:

The concern of Mr. Kerr-Jarrett, expressed in The Sunday Gleaner of the 17th instant, under the headline 'New hotels, few homes', serves to highlight a very vexing problem that currently exists in our country.

While the economic prospects of the welcome developments translate into a bright ray of hope for our people, Mr. Kerr-Jarrett is understandably concerned about the devastating situation that will inevitably arise when migrant employees and hopefuls fail to secure accommodation in that tourism-dominated town and its environs.

It is my belief that many of the migrant employees will hope to obtain rented accommodation initially until the tide turns, resulting in their ability to become proud home owners, perhaps in close proximity to their places of employment where possible.

While I share Mr. Kerr-Jarrett's concern for St. James, the problem of housing is a national headache. The fact that a loan of $3 million has been placed at each contributor's disposal, is commendable and has generated much fanfare.

Our country, however, is still replete with thousands of working- class people for whom owning a home is still a distinct impossibility.

The majority of the housing developers in our country are private companies and individuals who do not cater to the needs of the working class; their priority is money, therefore, a housing solution that costs $6 million or more is, in their view, affordable.

The Government has a responsibility, therefore, to provide affordable housing solutions that will help many Jamaicans to pay their own mortgage instead of someone else's.

Jamaicans are innovative enough to transform a simple, humble shelter into a beautiful, breathtaking structure over time, and that is where many of our people are prepared to begin, right at the beginning.

I am, etc.,

GWENDOLYN MORGAN

Morant Bay