NHT Surpasses Target In Delivering Housing Solutions

The National Housing Trust (NHT) has surpassed its mandated target of building 43,000 housing solutions, delivering more than 50,000 homes since April 2021, a significant milestone in Jamaica’s efforts to tackle the housing deficit.

Addressing the ceremony to break ground for the agency’s Chantilly Gardens housing development in Westmoreland, on Friday (July 18), Prime Minister, Dr. the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, praised the NHT’s achievements.

The Prime Minister recalled the Government’s original mandate for the agency some five years ago.

“When I announced the 70,000 houses to be built, I called up the NHT and I said to them, you are going to build 43,000 of them,” Dr. Holness noted.

He added that the Housing Agency of Jamaica (HAJ) was assigned to build 14,000 houses as part of this national effort.

Looking ahead, the Prime Minister announced a new target for the island’s housing agencies.

“Recently I made an announcement of the next phase… . We’re going to set a target of 60,000 houses, less than what we had set before,” he outlined.

For his part, NHT Chairman, Linval Freeman, highlighted the Trust’s ongoing momentum of creating new housing developments on the island.

“The largest housing starts that the NHT has done in any one year is just over 7,500. Now we are at 6,000 and I believe by the end of March, we will surpass that,” he highlighted.

He pointed out that the Chantilly Gardens ground breaking marked the Trust’s fifth such ceremony this year and the third in western Jamaica.

The first phase of the development will deliver 120 modern housing units, featuring both one-bedroom and two-bedroom solutions, under the Guaranteed Purchase Programme (GPP).

The GPP is an initiative between the NHT and developers, through which the NHT agrees to purchase for its contributors all or some units in housing developments.

In this arrangement, the developer accepts all the risks associated with the planning, designing, financing and completing the housing solutions, while the NHT undertakes the marketing in respect of the agreed number of solutions.