JAMAICA | Opposition PNP Blasts Government's Housing Record

KINGSTON, Jamaica, April 28, 2025 – The Holness administration's much-touted housing revolution has built castles in the air rather than affordable homes on the ground, according to a scathing assessment delivered yesterday by Opposition Spokesperson on Housing and Sustainable Living, Professor Senator Floyd Morris.

In a blistering critique that laid bare the government's housing shortfall, Morris characterized Prime Minister Andrew Holness's nine-year housing record as a "miserable failure" that has left ordinary Jamaicans priced out of the market while developers cater to upper-income brackets.

"In 2020, Prime Minister Holness promised to build 70,000 houses over a five-year period. However, data is showing that he is nowhere near achieving this target," Morris declared. "The Holness administration has been delivering to the market on average 2,300 houses annually over the past nine years. If this is not a failure, I don't know what else is."

The Opposition Senator pointed to the government's own fiscal documentation to highlight the disparity between promises and delivery. According to the Fiscal Policy Paper of 2025, the National Housing Trust (NHT) should have completed 15,009 housing units for the fiscal year 2024-25, yet only managed to deliver a paltry 2,754 homes—less than 20% of the targeted output.

Morris reserved particular criticism for what he described as the administration's abandonment of lower-income contributors to the NHT. "Approximately 48% of the contributors to the NHT are individuals earning below $30,000 per week, but the Holness administration has dismally neglected the housing needs of these individuals," he noted. "Now, because it is an election year, they are suddenly talking about the need to build low-income houses."

The housing crisis, Morris argues, is not merely one of quantity but of affordability. He cited the controversial Ruthven Towers development where units priced between $28 million and $38 million have been "bedeviled with all manner of problems." Similarly, through the Housing Agency of Jamaica, lots were sold for between $25 and $30 million in a development near Pines of Karachi—a far cry from what working-class Jamaicans can afford.

The contrast with previous administrations, Morris suggested, is stark. "When the Portia Simpson Miller-led PNP administration left office in 2016, a one-bedroom unit was being sold for less than $7 million and a two-bedroom for approximately $12 million," he said. "However, these prices have increased dramatically under the Holness-led administration. A one-bedroom is being sold for over $12 million, and a two-bedroom for over $18 million—out of the reach of ordinary working-class Jamaicans."

Amid the critique, Morris outlined the Opposition's alternative vision, endorsing proposals recently presented by Opposition Leader Mark Golding in the 2025-2026 Budget debate. "We have heard the cry of the people and we are putting forward a wide array of initiatives to tackle the affordable housing crisis and build cohesive communities," Morris said.

The Opposition's housing plan includes halting the annual $11.4 billion extraction from the NHT that currently supports the national budget. This would allow the establishment of a $1 billion fund for young people, providing 10,000 recipients with housing grants of $500,000 each toward home deposits over five years.

Morris also committed to building 50,000 houses over five years—with NHT contributors exempted from land costs—and introducing an innovative rent-to-own initiative for Jamaicans unable to produce traditional proof of income. "Consistent rental monthly payments will be treated as proof of ability to pay and the rental arrangement will be converted into a mortgage, so that they step up from being tenants to becoming owners," he explained.

A particularly ambitious element of the plan includes reviving 47 Operation PRIDE developments abandoned under the current administration. Dubbed the Programme for the Orderly Renewal and Transformation of Infrastructure in all Areas (PORTIA), the initiative would provide land titles, replace zinc fences with concrete walls or chain-link alternatives, and improve sidewalks for persons with disabilities and senior citizens.

Morris concluded by reminding Jamaicans of the PNP's historical contributions to housing, including establishing the NHT, which has delivered over 200,000 houses in its 50-year history; providing approximately 60,000 land titles through Operation PRIDE; and transitioning thousands of sugar workers from barracks to decent housing.

As housing costs continue to spiral beyond the reach of average earners, the Opposition's critique touches a nerve in a country where the dream of homeownership increasingly seems like a luxury reserved for the few rather than a realistic aspiration for the many.

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