Golding woos with housing promises
Public sector workers, young professionals, low-income earners targeted
Published:Sunday | March 23, 2025 | 9:55 PMErica Virtue/Senior Gleaner Writer
Riding on one of the most successful planks of People’s National Party (PNP) administrations since the 1970s, Opposition Leader Mark Golding has outlined a slew of benefits he proposes to put in place for prospective homeowners, and public sector workers contributing to the National Housing Trust (NHT).
Golding, who was making his contribution to the 2025-2026 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives yesterday, also promised that the Housing Agency of Jamaica (HAJ) would be the lead developer of low-income housing in the island with a plan to build 50,000 affordable houses over the next five years.
These will be one-bedroom starter units, Golding said, arguing that $29-million houses were out of the reach of low-income earners and young people.
Golding has said that most private developers have not been focusing on affordable housing because the return on investment is not as attractive as in the middle- to upper-income bands of the market. He said being able to receive a house was social and economic justice for the NHT contributors whose institution has been depleted of resources to ease the fiscal burden on the country.
“Teachers, nurses, police officers and other public servants, young professionals, persons with disabilities and indeed any individual contributing to the NHT will be able to own their homes,” Golding said.
YOUNG OWNERS DEPOSIT FUND
Accordingly, he has also promised that, if the PNP were handed the reins of government after the next general election which is due by September, it would establish a special Young Owners Deposit Fund of $1 billion within the NHT for persons under 35 years old to access $500,000 towards their deposit, once they have been an NHT contributor for at least two years. These contributors would be able to apply to the NHT and received their $500,000 deposit grant.
Outlining a package of benefits to public servants, young people and low-wage beneficiaries which he said was discontinued, Golding claimed public sector workers were hurting from the “way in which the pay rationalisation was done”.
“We will restore public sector workers’ access to a reduction in their NHT interest rates, reducing their interest rates by one per cent depending on their income band, from two per cent reduced to one per cent or from four per cent reduced to three per cent, or from five per cent reduced to four per cent. Police, nurses, teachers, doctors, firefighters and all other public servants will get back this benefit…,” he stated.
“Secondly, we will give public sector workers a break when it comes to commencing their loan payments. Currently, when a NHT loan is disbursed, the borrower must commence payment in the following month. We recognise that buying a home can have lots of other costs attached. We will therefore allow public sector workers a three-month moratorium period after their NHT loan disbursement before they commence loan payments, giving them more time to recover from the expenses, buy furniture and get their place ready to move in,” he said.
Committing also to repurpose the NHT and return it to its core mandate of providing affordable housing to contributors, Golding said a PNP government would exclude the cost of land from the price of houses built by the NHT over the next five years, and pass through a reduction of between $2.5 million and $3 million to contributors purchasing those homes.
Stating that it was time for real solutions, and “not photo ops for public relations exercises in social housing that will not move the needle”, he said the performance of the NHT was underwhelming.
DELAYS IN EXECUTION
Citing the February 2025 Fiscal Policy Paper, Golding said: “The NHT estimates slower than planned execution of its housing projects. The trust expects to commence construction of 6,366 housing units, compared to its original target of 15,009 and estimates to complete construction of 2,754, compared to its original target of 3,664. This has contributed to a $15.3 billion underspend in its housing expenditure which stems predominantly from delays in the execution of its Guaranteed Purchase Programme.”
Outlining more goodies for public sector workers, he said the current debt service ratio (DSR) required by the NHT is 33.3 per cent, meaning the loan payments cannot exceed 33.3 per cent of a borrowers gross salary. A PNP government, he said, would extend a preferred 40 per cent DSR to public sector workers for their NHT loans to allow them room to borrow a larger loan from the NHT to buy their homes.
The hardest hurdle for young people in buying a home is the deposit, he said.
Still promising more benefits, Golding said the cost of home insurance continues to increase with a 25 per cent increase in 2025 on peril insurance which was passed on to NHT mortgagors.
This, he said, was hard on individuals earning $30,000 or less per month.
He said those borrowers would be given a break as his government would absorb the cost of insuring their homes which would allow them a bigger mortgage loan.
Also, what he termed ‘ the Programme for the Orderly Renewal and Transformation of Infrastructure in all Areas (PORTIA) initiative’, Golding said social houses would be built, and zinc fences torn down and replaced with concrete walls. Furthermore, sidewalks would be constructed to facilitate persons with disabilities and senior citizens, and all 47 Operation PRIDE projects, which have been left unfinished for the past nine years, would be completed.