Peter Espeut | Raiding the house money

I remember clearly when the National Housing Trust (NHT) was established in 1976; I was in my 20s.  

In 1975 the total national budget was roughly J$800 million, and Jamaica had an acute housing shortage.  (When, since Emancipation, when the Freedmen were evicted from their homes on the plantations) has Jamaica not had an acute housing shortage?)

The population was migrating from rural to sub-urban to urban, and the private sector simply was not building fast enough to accommodate the new arrivals.  And because Jamaica’s education system turned out large numbers of illiterate, unskilled labourers, what was needed was low-cost housing.  

But the profit margin just wasn’t large enough to attract the private sector to invest in low-cost housing; so they built houses for the middle class.

Even if the private sector wanted to build low-cost housing, the capital just wasn’t there to do it.  Then somebody had the bright idea to set up a revolving loan scheme capitalized by wage-earners (from payroll deductions) and their employers to fund housing construction for the lower end of the market.  The private sector could be relied on to serve the middle and higher end of the market, so the NHT would dedicate itself to finance housing for those who could least afford ‘house-and-lan’’.

I don’t know if that idea has ever worked. What successive governments have called ‘low-cost housing’ has not been cheap enough to meet the needs of minimum-wage workers.  And although some grants have been given, the NHT has mostly offered loans.

Why not build subsidised housing? And sell below cost, or give them away to the certified poor?  Oh no!  The NHT has to refund salary contributions, so they have to make a profit.

Having visited England, and seen ‘Council Houses’ – neighbourhoods consisting of rows of flats or walk-ups built by government and leased cheaply to citizens – I don’t know why I thought we were going to get something like that?  Neatly laid out residential communities, with parks and playgrounds and promenades.

Of course, in the end, we did: we got garrison communities: first, Tivoli Gardens – the ‘mother of all garrisons’ (before the NHT) – and then Arnett Gardens, Reema (Wilton Gardens), and so many others.  Few loan or lease payments were ever made.  What the tribalists got were free houses or apartments, and the politicians got ‘safe seats’.  This aberration is still with us today.

But the housing shortage is still acute.  The NHT has not solved the problem, even though the pool of funds under its management has grown to hundreds of billions (with a ‘B’) of Jamaican dollars.

Part of the reason is that the NHT moved into funding the construction of middle and upper-end housing, departing from (or abandoning) their original mandate.  They became basically a finance company.

And then in 2005 the government of Prime Minister P.J. Patterson authorised the raiding of the NHT, for a good cause (it’s always a good cause): J$5 billion was withdrawn to fund the national education transformation initiative.  Good cause or not, that raid was the thin edge of the wedge, and it set a precedent for piracy that continues to this day.

And our underperforming education system is still in need of transformation! 

I call it a raid, because the J$5 billion was not a loan from the NHT to the Government: it was a stick-up.  The government didn’t want to subsidise housing for the poor, but they were quite happy to use poor people’s housing money to support the annual budget.  

Of course the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) – then in Opposition – howled bloody murder!  But as ruling parties do, they were totally ignored.

I said to myself: with this precedent, and since they are sloshing in NHT money, the government certainly can now build thousands of houses and rent/lease them on a non-partisan basis (no more garrisons) to ease the housing shortage.  

But I didn’t hold my breath!

In 2013 the Portia Simpson Miller administration legislated four annual withdrawals of $11.4 billion (about $45.6 billion with a ‘B’) from the NHT housing fund.  Not a loan, but another raid!

And all this time, the housing deficit is growing larger, and the lack of proper shelter is of crisis proportions; and instead of building houses, you are giving away the people’s money?

This act of piracy came to an end in 2017.  Not to be outdone, in that year the Holness administration legislated to continue the annual $11.4 billion drawdowns, but this time for six years.  Anything you can do, I can do better!  Total raided by the JLP (2017-2023): J$68.5 billion (with a ‘B’).

And all this time, one house here and one house there.  Instead of building houses, you are giving away the people’s money.

And then in 2023, the government piloted an amendment to withdraw an additional $57 billion (with a ‘B’) over a five-year period to cushion the post-COVID-19 fallout.

Score: JLP: J$125 billion, PNP: J$50 billion.

Imagine how many houses J$175 billion could build?

And now in 2026, parliament has authorised the raiding of another $11.4 billion over five years from the NHT to fund recovery efforts following Hurricane Melissa: another J$57 billion (with a ‘B’).

Of course the PNP – now in Opposition – howls bloody murder!  But as ruling parties do, they are totally ignored.

I have no doubt that the NHT has the cash; they are collecting those billions from you and me (under false pretenses).  What bothers me is the hundreds of thousands of houses that are not being built because of government piracy, and the people dat doan live no-whe!

Peter Espeut is a sociologist and development scientist. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com