NHT is in Good Financial Health – Mitchell

Chairman of the National Housing Trust (NHT), Howard Mitchell, says that the organisation is in good financial health and is fully capable of meeting its obligations to its contributors.
“Following on 2008, when we had reported a deficit of some $321.5 million, the NHT came back last year to show a surplus of over $1.8 billion. This surplus came about as a result of a number of strategic moves made by the Trust,” Mr. Mitchell said at a JIS Think Tank on Thursday (Jan. 21), at the agency’s headquarters in Kingston.
These strategic moves, he said, included reducing operational costs. “We have had foreign exchange gains and our returns from our investments were higher because of how we placed our funds,” he added, noting that “the increase in interest rates added to that surplus, although that was not the major part of that surplus.”
He informed that by the end of the financial year in March, the Trust will boast an operating surplus of $1.58 billion. “This speaks to the health of the organisation and the effort that the Trust makes to manage contributors’ funds properly,” the NHT Chairman stated.
Turning to housing expenditure, Mr. Mitchell said that by the end of March, the NHT would have spent some $18.5 billion on housing solutions and will increase the amount spent to $24 billion for the coming financial year.
“This figure will be the highest amount spent by the Trust in five years,” he told JIS News, noting that the expenditure will provide 3,241 housing solutions in schemes across the island.
Most of the solutions, he informed, are comprised of scheme units in Unions Estate Phase 3 in Twickenham Park, St. Catherine; Providence Phase 2 in St. James; and Perth Phase 1 in Manchester.
“In the coming year, we will deliver 1,991 scheme solutions to our contributors,” Mr. Mitchell said.