Andrew Smith/Photography Editor
LEFT: Many young professionals are priced out of the housing market. RIGHT: Samuels

Daraine Luton, Sunday Gleaner Staff Reporter

A MANDATE given to the National Housing Trust (NHT) in 2004 by then Prime Minister P.J. Patterson for houses to be built within the Corporate Area, primarily for middle-income young professionals, has come to a halt because of the unavailability of suitable land.

"We have not delivered on that mandate in any significant way for two primary reasons," Executive Director of the NHT Earl Samuels tells The Sunday Gleaner.

Patterson, in his thirteenth consecutive contribution to the Budget Debate as Prime Minister, had announced that several parcels of land were being acquired to provide affordable units for the middle-income market, primarily young professionals in the Corporate Area and other urban centres.

As prime minister, he had responsibility for the NHT and had mandated the housing agency to lead the charge in addressing what had become a great need.

Unavailability of suitable lands

Samuels says the NHT is being stalled by the unavailability of suitable lands to construct affordable units, as well as a prolonged land- acquisition process.

As part of Patterson's master plan, the offices of the commissioner of police located on Old Hope Road in St. Andrew, and the old Rape Unit, now the Centre for the Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse, on Ruthven Road, St. Andrew, were to be relocated.

The lands would then be acquired by the NHT for the building of houses for this group of young professionals. Samuels says that the more than 300 houses, comprising studios, one-bed room and two-bedroom units, have already been designed, but the NHT has not yet acquired the lands.

The NHT boss says that while suitable land is hard to come by in the Corporate Area, the NHT has helped to finance development on the outskirts of the Corporate Area and has argued that "people should balance taste with pocket".

He further notes that the unstable social environment in some Corporate Area locations where lands are available, make them undesirable for residential developments.

Edwin Wint, president of the Realtors' Association of Jamaica concurs.

"The structure of the economy and the social situation in some communities mitigate against development," he comments.

An increase in the number of tertiary institutions and the attendant need for housing among young middle-income professionals have risen in recent years, particularly in the Corporate Area.

This group of young professionals, who earn an average of $1 million per year, are being forced to rent or purchase houses in less-preferred communities because of escalating housing costs.

Cadine Stewart, economist and head of the Land Economy and Valuation Programme at the University of Technology, says houses in preferred Corporate Area communities are "priced out of the budget range of this group."

"Young professionals are always desirous of living close to their place of employment. However, there is a problem of affordability of houses within the urban centres," Ms. Stewart adds.

Many developments in the Corporate Area are town houses which are being sold for about $18 million. Wint says there are not many in the existing stock available within the lower- to middle-income price range of $2.5 million to $7million.

daraine.luton@gleanerjm.com