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2011 Census of Population & Housing - Jamaica
xviii
purposes, the type of water for drinking purposes, type of lighting available, type of
fuel used for cooking and the method of domestic garbage disposal.
A summary of the main findings from the 2011 Housing Census related to these topics,
are presented below. Housing questions have some of the highest non-response rates in
the census. There is a general feeling on the part of the population, that these are private
matters and to ask them is intruding on their privacy. The cases of ‘not reported’
categories for some questions are quite high. On this account care must be taken in the
interpretation of the results.
Tenure of Land and Dwelling
Tenure refers to the legal arrangements for occupancy of land and or dwelling at the
time of the census. The categories identified were, owned, leased, rented, rent-free and
squatting.
Table (xv) shows that the highest percentage of dwelling units were either owned or
rented by their occupants. At the time of Census 2011, more than a half (60 per cent) of
households reported ownership while 20 per cent rented. The comparative percentages
for 2001 were 58 per cent owned and 22 per cent rented. The category squatting has
been of major interest over the years. As defined in the census, squatting relates to those
cases where occupiers were not paying rent but were occupying the property (dwelling
or land) without the consent of the owner. The illegality of squatting makes the
reporting suspect. Only one per cent of households reported squatting in the dwelling.
Attention is drawn to the category “rent free”, which accounted for 15 per cent of the
responses. It is possible that although “rent free” implied that occupancy of the
dwelling was with the consent of the owner, some squatting could have been reported
in this category.