Christopher Burgess | Land for the few: How history locked Jamaicans out of home-ownership

Jamaica’s housing crisis has deep roots in historical land injustices that excluded freedmen and favoured elites and foreign investors like the United Fruit Company in the 1890s and Spring Plains in the 1980s.

These policies fuelled rural-urban migration and informal settlements. Today, many Jamaicans still lack secure tenure, while non-resident investors own empty apartments, pushing young professionals out of the housing market.

HOW THE ENSLAVED BUILT WEALTH

Before Emancipation, enslaved Africans cultivated provision grounds on plantation fringes, an economic strategy that saved planters money. This system helped enslaved people accumulate wealth, with some later purchasing land from struggling planters.

“Nowhere was it clearer that the success of the provisioning system during slavery was foundational to the slaves’ land-acquisition strategy than Jamaica. On the eve of Emancipation, enslaved Jamaicans were cash rich, one estimate was that they were in control of close to 50 per cent of the cash in circulation in the island.”

Planters in 1838 hesitated to evict freedmen, marking the start of informal housing and wealth generation for freedmen.

ABANDONED ESTATES AND INCREASED PRODUCTIVITY

Restrictive colonial policies made it almost impossible for freedmen. The legislature set minimum parcel sizes first at 30 acres, then 100 acres, at the insistence of the elite, and priced at £100, or about 15 years’ wages for freedmen, making land ownership nearly impossible. This mirrors today’s young professionals’ affordability struggles with a monthly salary of $300,000, it would take 15 years to afford an apartment at Ruthven Tower.

Freedmen pooled resources to buy land and formed villages like Sligoville, Buxton and Sturge Town. By the 1850s, over 50,000 small farmers produced 43 per cent of exports, proof that land ownership fuels economic growth. Today’s leaders must prioritise land access to boost productivity.

LAND MONOPOLISATION

After 1860, colonial policies further restricted small farmers while favouring wealthy elites and foreign investors. The colonial government initiated the Crown Lands Settlement Programme, but high prices limited access to just the elite. Much of the land offered to small farmers was marginal, and lacking access. The Jamaica Agricultural Society (1895) prioritised middle-class export farmers, leaving smallholders struggling.

Policy changes in the late 19th century allowed the United Fruit Company to monopolise fertile land for banana cultivation, restricting smallholder access to land again.

By 1900, most of the 60,000 small farmers owned under five acres each of unproductive land, deepening economic hardship. This was due to unwise policy relaxation by the colonial government, that formerly restricted land ownership by “Aliens”.

History repeated itself in the 1980s with the ill-fated Spring Plain project in Clarendon, that fueled rural-urban migration again.

Policies must ensure fair distribution, that prioritise small farmers and national food security. Foreign investment should not come at the expense of small farmers.

RAILWAY LAND SETTLEMENTS

Infrastructure can drive economic opportunity. Railway development expanded small landholdings from 50,000 in the 1850s to over 81,000 by 1896, supporting land reform and export farming. However, land granted to the Jamaica Railway Company and the West India Improvement Company were underutilised, allowing informal settlers to settle undisturbed.

Freedmen either remained on estate lands, moved to railway allotments, or later migrated to urban centres in search of work. These settlement patterns from the 1840s to 1890s help explain many of today’s informal communities. The location of 814 estates from the Repository of the Centre for the Study of Legacies of British Slavery and railway alignment clearly accounts for many informal communities.

The Crown Land Scheme of 1895 was introduced with the promise of helping small farmers gain access to land. Instead, it largely benefited the middle class, leaving landless farmers behind. By 1916, new policies made things worse, shifting even more land into the hands of wealthy landowners.

For example, in 1928, when the UFC moved to expand its operations in Kellits and Crofts Hill in Clarendon; UFC’s interest in a 5,000-acre parcel would have displaced more than 400 tenant families. It took the intervention of Legislative Council member J. A. G. Smith to stop the takeover and protect those families.

This episode highlights a recurring issue in Jamaica’s land policy; ambitious schemes that fall short of helping the people who need them most. If rural development is to succeed, future infrastructure and investment projects must be matched with land policies that ensure security, affordability, and fairness, especially for small farmers and landless communities.

WHEN HOUSING INEQUALITY SPARKED REBELLION

By the 1930s, frustration over landlessness and economic inequality boiled over, triggering the 1938 labour rebellion, led by Norman Manley and Alexander Bustamante. The 1929 Land Settlement Scheme aimed to formalise land ownership by subdividing abandoned estates, distributing 28,778 acres to 5,897 farmers. But high prices excluded the poorest Jamaicans.

By the 1930s, frustration over land inequality fueled worker protests, culminating in the 1938 labour rebellion. Rural-to-urban migration worsened slum conditions, forcing many into informal street trade. In response, Governor Edward Denham expanded land settlements in 1938, distributing 11,348 plots, but access remained limited.

Affordable land access prevents social unrest and increases productivity and food security. Policies must prioritise equitable distribution, infrastructure, and security of tenure to create stability and fuel growth. Leaders must focus on land access for small farmers and informal communities.

Christopher Burgess, PhD is a registered civil engineer, land developer and the managing director of CEAC Solutions Company Limited. He is currently a Jamaica Institution of Engineers council member. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com