Christopher Burgess | Housing from 2010 to 2024: Portia’s economic reset and Andrew’s legacy

Jamaica was still recovering from the 2008 global crisis when it slid into near economic meltdown in 2009. Interest rates skyrocketed from four to 13 per cent, making borrowing difficult. I remember Finance Minister Audley Shaw in a June 2011 broadcast trying to explain why Jamaica had not passed six months of IMF Stand-by Arrangement tests. Jamaica lost credibility by the end of 2011, and the IMF noted:

“After a debt exchange in 2010, and yet another IMF-supported programme that went off track, in 2011, the country was on the verge of an economic meltdown, with no access to international capital markets.”

It was Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller’s May 2013 IMF programme that stabilised the economy by 2016. Unemployment fell, housing demand outpaced supply, and families turned to self-built homes. Speculators ignited an apartment building boom to satisfy short-term renters, leaving young professionals behind. In this period, the National Housing Trust (NHT) lost its focus on its mandate, and housing output declined to the lowest levels in history, driving prices beyond the affordability of the working class. It was a period of drift and decline.

PRODUCTION PAUSE

The government’s retreat from mass housing schemes, such as Greater Portmore, had a severe impact on the working class. Despite repeated policy proposals, housing production kept falling. The Housing Agency of Jamaica (HAJ) recorded zero completions in 2017. While the NHT partly filled the gap, national production sank below 1,300 units in 2024 — far from the 8,000 to 10,000 delivered in the 1970s and 1990s.

Government must lead the supply of affordable housing. History has shown that private developers are focused on the higher end of the market.

YOUNG PROFESSIONALS PRICED OUT

From 2016 to 2022, Jamaica experienced an apartment boom that benefited a few. Interest rates of 8-9 per cent encouraged developers, but prices quickly increased beyond young professionals’ budgets. A 2-bedroom apartment jumped from J$20M to J$45M. Rents rose from J$80,000 to over J$190,000, driven in part by short-term rentals. By 2024, the market cooled under price fatigue.

Policymakers must incentivise the development of affordable and walkable apartments for young professionals, like Oakland on Constant Spring Road. Young professionals want to live near to where they work. Otherwise, they will continue to migrate in droves.

PLANS AND PROMISES

Throughout the 2010s, the National Housing Policy, Squatter Management Plan and PPP frameworks were revised up to three times each, and output declined from 40,000 to 12,000 for the period 2020-2024.

Jamaica must move from drafting policies to execution. The 1960s proved that, once a programme works, it should be scaled, like Portmore. A focus on, for instance, scaling up starter housing schemes, like Catherine Estate, from its planned 1,600 units to 10,000 units, would be more beneficial. There is no need to reinvent the wheel.

NHT: DIVERSION AND RUTHVEN TOWERS

The NHT — once the housing bank of the working class — lost focus and ground in this period. Its mortgage market share fell from 64 per cent to 57 per cent in 2024. A pivotal moment came in 2013 when the government began an initial four-year extraction of J$11.4 billion annually to meet IMF obligations. This would be extended in 2017, and 2020 for another five years. While useful to support the budget, the diversion has deprived 14,000 low-income families of affordable housing. When will it stop?

From 2017, the NHT pivoted away from direct building towards joint ventures and, controversially, into expensive apartment developments such as Ruthven Towers, built on land formally owned by the Jamaica Constabulary Force. Prime Minister Andrew Holness broke ground in 2017 and, five years later, the complex opened with units priced at up to J$38 million. This price was far beyond the reach of most contributors, let alone young professionals. I met one mid-career private sector professional, who was initially elated at being selected for a unit, but later had to decline her allocation when she realised that the mortgage repayments would exceed J$360,000 per month.

The NHT must be restored from this drift to its mandate under the Act: financing affordable homes with the Trust’s funds and investing in the efficient supply of housing.

SELF-BUILT HOUSING

With few affordable options on the market, more families took matters into their own hands. HAJ’s St James townhouses priced at J$35 million were far beyond the reach of tourism workers. Electrical inspection records suggest that six times as many people are not waiting, but building their own dreams.

Policies must support self-building with standard building plans. Some countries have construction drawings for typical two-bedroom solutions that give most families a reasonable start, with expansion options.

WHITHER 14,000 HOMES?

This was a period of diversion, unaffordable housing and production pause. Plans were plentiful, but affordable houses were scarce. Government retreated from building mass affordable schemes, and private developers rushed in with expensive apartments and townhouses that locked out professionals and welcomed speculators.

The diversion of NHT funds continued and may have supported the budget, but it came at the expense of not providing 14,000 families with starter homes. Ruthven Towers became a symbol of drift — how did the NHT, an agency primarily supported by the working-class Jamaican, built for workers, turn into a builder of apartments the majority of Jamaican workers could never afford?

Jamaica must produce affordable homes at scale. If we fail, we will lose another generation of professionals to migration and leave many in informal settlements. It is time to build and not drift further away from affordable housing.

Christopher Burgess, PhD, is a registered civil engineer, land developer and managing director of CEAC Outsourcing, owners of SMARTHomes Jamaica. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com