PRIME Minister Andrew Holness announces several initiatives to get more Jamaicans in own homes

 BY BALFORD HENRY Senior staff reporter balfordh@jamaicaobserver.c om  Wednesday, May 25, 2016    

PRIME Minister Andrew Holness yesterday outlined new initiatives aimed at increasing access to housing funds, tackling crime, and improving cooperation with neighbouring countries, the Jamaican Diaspora and the Opposition as part of his Administration’s prosperity plan.

Major revelation in his approximately 150-minute speech, however, was a new thrust at housing low-income Jamaicans through the National Housing Trust (NHT), which has come in for severe criticism recently for failing to fulfil its commitment to its contributors.

“This is part of the prosperity doctrine. Owning a house is one of the most significant investments you can make for the financial security of you and your family,” he told the House of Representatives as he made his contribution to the 2016/17 Budget Debate.

The prime minister announced that the Government would undertake measures to increase the supply of housing stock, while broadening access to financing for the purchase of housing. There will also be an increase in the income band for low-income earners who can access to NHT loans at a rate of zero per cent interest, from $7,500 per week to $12,000 per week, which means that these workers will all receive interest-free loans up to $4.89 million; reducing from four to two per cent the interest on mortgage loans from the trust to individuals earning between $12,001 and $20,000 per week; and reducing the interest on loans to individuals earning between $20,001 and $30,000 from six per cent to four per cent.

He said that contributors who earn above $30,000 per week would continue to pay the highest interest rate of six per cent. These adjustments will take effect on July 1, 2016.

Andrew Holness

The prime minister said that the change will cost the NHT $1.58 billion over the four-year period, 2016/17 to 2019/20.

In terms of adjustments to subsidies and grants, Holness said that the home grants programme introduced by the trust in 2010 to help lower-income contributors afford a house will be adjusted by capping the combined ceiling for mortgage loans and home grants at $4 million per contributor; and individuals earning up to $12,000 weekly, as well as senior citizens and the disabled, will be eligible for the home grant that is to be capped at $1.5 million.

The change in the eligibility period as well as the home grant will cost the NHT $3.2 billion over the next three years. more