NHT Income-Targeted Subsidies to Benefit Poorest

More subsidies will go to persons with low income as the National Housing Trust (NHT) revises its policy using income-targeted subsidies, says Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness.

“The majority of persons who are contributing, including the number of persons in the public service, will not be affected because their income levels are within the band, where they pay zero per cent in terms of interest,” he said.

“So, this argument in terms of somehow our income targeting is going to be worse for the poor is absolutely not true,” he further emphasised.

Prime Minister Holness was speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony for the Sandown Palms Housing Development in Portmore on Friday (August 26).

He noted that the subsidy policy changes for homeownership are aimed at being “more in line with the needs of the people”, following recommendations given in a strategic review of the Trust in 2017.

“[The] report concluded that if the NHT is going to give subsidies, [it should be given] to persons who are purchasing the house and that’s what we have been doing in reducing the interest rates and increasing the bands in which people can benefit to zero interest rates,” he disclosed.

“The second [conclusion from the report] is [to] give subsidies to the poorest people… the most vulnerable [and] the people who need it,” he stated.

Against this backdrop, the Prime Minister argues that homes donated under the New Social Housing Programme (NSHP), are an example where a citizen receives a subsidy that’s “fairer”.

“That’s a fully subsidised house… . Who is getting it? It’s not ‘rich’ people, it is the poorest or the poor, the person who lives in two sheets of zinc on top of each other,” he emphasised.

Meanwhile, he noted that the reduced interest rates were introduced in 2010 as a means to “cushion the financial crisis” at the time.

“Now bear in mind that before that, there was never differential interest rate for persons in the private and public sectors. The Special Provision Orders [stated] it was to be in place for three years… so it should have expired in 2013,” he stated.

He noted that though it was extended over the years, a restructuring of the policy will allow for fairer provisions that will benefit the nation’s most vulnerable.