$130 Billion Spent On Housing Over Past Four Years

Approximately $130 billion has been expended by the Government on the provision of housing over the past four years.

This is 59 per cent higher than the $82 billion spent during the four years prior, 2013 to 2016.

Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, made the disclosure during his contribution to the 2020/21 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives on March 19.

He said that the housing expenditure of $40 billion in 2019/20 was the largest in the 43-year history of the National Housing Trust (NHT).

“As a consequence of the increased expenditure, the Trust was able to provide some 30,590 loans between financial year 2016/17 and financial year 2019/20. With increased expenditure on housing, the NHT is becoming more focused on its core mandate,” Mr. Holness said.

“By the end of financial year 2019/20, the NHT expects to hold 90 per cent of its total assets in housing and we expect this to grow to 93 per cent in financial year 2020/21. This will be a creditable improvement over the 84 per cent attained in financial year 2015/16,” he added.

As at the end of February 2020, overall housing completions for financial year 2019/20 were 37 per cent above target or 2,102 completed, while 1, 532 projects were planned.