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NHT to Build 22,000 Housing Starts in Four Years

By: , March 21, 2018

The Key Point:

Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, says the National Housing Trust (NHT) is executing plans to build up to 22,000 housing starts for the four-year period to 2020.

The Facts

  • The Prime Minister was making his contribution to the 2018/19 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives on March 20.
  • “We have, therefore, instituted a developers’ programme at the NHT whereby the private sector is invited, through a competitive process, to bid on producing affordable housing on lands owned by the NHT, according to specifications provided by the NHT,” he explained.

The Full Story

Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, says the National Housing Trust (NHT) is executing plans to build up to 22,000 housing starts for the four-year period to 2020.

“This is action that will transform the lives of poor people. These 22,000 housing starts will be spread across Jamaica, and we are innovating to achieve these higher levels of housing output,” he said.

The Prime Minister was making his contribution to the 2018/19 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives on March 20.

Mr. Holness said while the private sector participates in the middle, upper-middle and upper ends of the housing market, they have largely been absent from the affordable housing market.

“We have, therefore, instituted a developers’ programme at the NHT whereby the private sector is invited, through a competitive process, to bid on producing affordable housing on lands owned by the NHT, according to specifications provided by the NHT,” he explained.

“Once the developers are competitively selected and confirmed, they will be responsible for all stages of the process from planning and approvals, through to construction and completion, according to criteria laid out by the NHT,” Mr. Holness added.

The Prime Minister said the developers will bear the financing, construction and completion risks, and to induce their participation in this end of the market, the NHT will assume the market risk, provided that the established criteria are satisfied.

The programme will allow the NHT to bring to market more than 4,000 affordable housing solutions in the first instance, which it would otherwise be unable to do on its own.

For the 2017/18 financial year, the NHT will complete 5,200 housing starts.

Last Updated: March 21, 2018

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