NHT building cash, not housing
NATIONAL Housing Trust (NHT), established in 1976, was a brilliant policy implemented by Prime Minister Michael Manley to provide affordable housing to our populace.
Funding the entity came from a two per cent tax from every employed Jamaican and a three per cent tax from every Jamaican employer.
Nearly 50 years later, the data suggests that NHT is inefficient and ineffective in delivering its mandate.
According to the Ministry of Finance, for the financial year ending 2024, the NHT collected $43.061 billion in income and spent $12.946 billion in operating expenses. These figures are shocking as the average number of housing completions by the NHT from 2018 to 2022 is 2,157 per annum (Economic and Social Survey of Jamaica, 2022). Therefore, the administrative costs of this entity are working out on average at approximately $6 million per unit completion.
Included in these figures for housing completions are “build on own land, lot solutions, guaranteed purchased programmes, individual loan solutions, joint ventures, and NHT project solutions” (Ministry of Finance and Public Service, 2024).
What’s clear is that not all of these solutions stated by the NHT are actual livable finished dwellings. Moreover, based on the administration costs, when a homeowner gets a mortgage loan of approximately $12 million from the NHT, half of the money comprises the organisation’s administration costs.
Additionally, the NHT generated a surplus of $21.8 billion for the financial year 2023-2024. With an employed labour force of 1.27 million, the NHT is delivering less than 0.18 per cent of houses or housing completions for our working population.
So, instead of building houses for our people, the NHT is taking a percentage of workers’ and employers’ salaries to build cash in the bank. This approach by the NHT is contrary to its original mission.
Yet, each year, the NHT embarks on a promotional display of misinformation. It reported to Parliament last month that it intends to start more than 15,000 new housing solutions for this financial year.
This projection must be imagined as, within the same report, it reported delivering only 1,627 solutions for 2023 and has never exceeded 2,700 solutions annually since 2018. (Jamaica Public Bodies Report, 2024-2025).
I should mention that these small, unimpressive deliverable statistics come with NHT executives making substantial salaries. Over 13 executives earn above $16 million in annual salaries each — managing director earning $34.2 million; finance director, $22 million; construction and development director, $21.6 million; corporate services, $22.1 million; senior general manager, customer relations, $22.79 million; and the GM company secretariat, $19.4 million (National Housing Trust 2023 Annual Report).
The executive salaries alone represent over $122,000 per unit they delivered, on average, from 2018 to 2022, and over $161,000 per unit for the 1,627 they reported to deliver in the last financial year.
Comparatively, other national social housing programmes are far more effective.
With a population of 5.6 million in Singapore, their social housing programme has delivered over one million units spread across 24 towns and three estates, giving a home to over 80 per cent of Singapore’s resident population, and about 90 per cent own their home. Here, public housing is a right of every citizen, and “in providing housing, we look at the whole spectrum of needs that make for an optimal living environment for residents. It is a continual process to create vibrant, innovative, and sustainable communities, and we always strive for excellent outcomes” (Public Housing Board, Singapore).
In France, the right to housing is a recognised social right and enshrined in subparagraphs 10 and 11 of the preamble to its constitution of October 27, 1946: “The nation shall provide the individual and the family with the conditions necessary to their development.”
That Government ensures that housing for people with limited resources is more affordable. For example, the rent is controlled and below market prices and managed by organisations known as “social landlords”, which allocate housing to applicants who meet the conditions according to priority criteria.
The NHT can definitely do much better with new systems relevant to its mandate, especially during this time, to meet the various purchasing power realties of the thousands of Jamaicans who need the peace of mind that they can afford to have a roof over their heads.
Let us start with some standardisation. The NHT should establish standard apartment and serviced lot drawings and have them pre-approved by all municipal corporations. This would reduce the approval process time, directly reducing their administrative costs, because their volumes are increased for the respective suppliers of the inputs.
In addition, several countries worldwide have overseas financing arrangements at concessionary interest rates for construction contacts of this value. If the NHT went to the Chinese, American, or Brazilian governments, for example, and said we want to buy the basic materials of the steel, lumber, doors, windows, and locks for 5,000 houses to be built in Jamaica, and argued that they want it financed for three years at 3 per cent, they would get many takers as the home prices would become low and competitive.
Indeed, if the NHT developed a social housing programme that constructed homes for rental below market rates, the houses would appreciate in keeping with inflation, so their asset value would be maintained. These houses were rented to Jamaicans at 20 per cent of whatever their salary may be, with priority allocation to teachers, university graduates, police, civil servants, and people working in export industries, including tourism, and then allow them to apply to buy the units after five years, and if they opted not to then they would have to make way for other qualified tenants.
Nothing creates more value in the economy than agriculture and construction, so in addition to providing much-needed housing and improving the dignity of homeownership, we would be growing the economy and giving all Jamaicans the quality of life for which they yearn.
The NHT has a moment to start listening again, acting with courage to do things differently, and being unabashed about fulfilling its mandate to the people of Jamaica. We all look forward to more housing completions, not starts, for this financial year.
In addition, several countries worldwide have overseas financing arrangements at concessionary interest rates for construction contacts of this value. If the NHT went to the Chinese, American, or Brazilian governments, for example, and said we want to buy the basic materials of the steel, lumber, doors, windows, and locks for 5,000 houses to be built in Jamaica, and argued that they want it financed for three years at 3 per cent, they would get many takers as the home prices would become low and competitive