NHT Groundbreaking Ceremony for Barrett Hall, St James
Keynote Address
By
Dr the Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, PC, MP
Prime Minister of Jamaica
At the
NHT Groundbreaking Ceremony for Barrett Hall, St James
On
April 10, 2025
______________________________________________________________
Thank you, Duane, for your usual masterful mastery of the ceremony and Reverend Edmondo Souza for your prayers
We have with us here today the world-renowned minister of tourism but his substantive role for which he will be acknowledged is as a Member of Parliament for St James East Central.
Chairman Linval Freeman, Chairman of the Board of the NHT
His Worship, the Mayor, Councillor Richard Vernon, Mayor of Montego Bay, a man who is truly vested in ensuring that there is public order and cleanliness in the municipality of Montego Bay.
I have with me here as well, Mr Joseph Matalan. Good to see you, Joe. And Mr Peter Melhado, who addressed us earlier. Both from West Indies Home Contractors Limited, and who have been exceptional partners in the construction of housing in Jamaica for a very, very, very long time.
The managing director of the NHT Martin Miller, along with the hardworking executive members, please accept my acknowledgement.
We have, of course, many stakeholder representatives who are here in the audience, both public and private.
And you will permit me to spare a few lines of acknowledgement for the Herbert Morrison High School Band, talent abound. If it is one regret that I have is that, I gave up learning to play an instrument, and I tried. My father gave me a harmonica. Do you know what that is? A mouth organ, as we call it, and I did pretty well on that, and then I abandoned it. And then I started on the guitar, and I was doing pretty well on that, and then I abandoned it, but who knows, maybe I’ll take it back up. But it is so good to be able to play an instrument, and when I see these young people, particularly the all-boys band, which played here, I was very, very impressed, and they have kind of stimulated me to maybe I should go and pick up an instrument for passed time.
The young ladies did exceptionally well on stage. ‘How yuh fi trust and yuh no certain what dem a do behind curtain’ but she came back quickly and said, you can trust the NHT because the NHT has your back, very good.
Friends, today is a landmark occasion, not only for the people of St James, but for all Jamaicans who believe in the power of opportunity, equity and progress. We gather here not merely to break ground on a housing development but to signal something far greater that government, private partners and citizens are working together to make home ownership accessible for all Jamaicans.
The Barrett Hall Housing Development is a symbol of our government’s unwavering commitment to expanding opportunity, especially for those who need it most. This project comprising 1,565 housing solutions: detached, one bedroom and two-bedroom units, as well as service lots is part of a growing and coordinated push to meet the demand for affordable housing across the island.
The Barrett Hall Housing Development is being executed under the National Housing Trust Developers Programme, a mechanism designed to speed up the delivery of quality affordable homes across Jamaica. Through this program, the NHT partners with experienced private developers such as WIHCON to construct housing solutions on lands owned by the NHT. The developer executes the entire project from designs, approvals, and financing right through to construction and handover. In return, at least 80% of the solutions are sold back to the NHT at an agreed price, ensuring affordability for contributors.
Importantly, a minimum of 60% of these solutions must be affordable to the NHT’s lowest-income earners. That is not just a clause in a contract, it is a commitment to the working-class families who keep this country going; the teachers, police officers, farmers, hospitality workers in particular, the tourism workers, I’m sure will be eyeing this development very keenly. We are building for you. Indeed, we are building for all Jamaicans.
I want to be clear about the government’s commitment to affordable housing. Three years ago, I gave a directive to the board of the NHT that their resources should be focused on what I describe as low-income and affordable housing. I have added another term to describe the target market: achievable housing. So, we’re looking at low-income people who are earning minimum wage, just around or just above minimum wage. We’re looking at affordable housing, and we have a certain price point in mind. I don’t want to call the price point because each time I call a price point, there is controversy about it, but we have a price point in mind that when we engage with the developers, we say to them, listen, based upon our market research, this is the price that is affordable to most income earners.
Then, we have a category which we call achievable, and the achievable housing really depends on how much the potential homeowner is willing to save towards the house. Generally, the estimate is that you would want to put aside 30 to 35% of your income to be able to afford the recurrent payment on your home. For achievable housing, you may want to put aside a little bit more to get maybe a higher value or a higher priced home, so it means that the struggle for the house for you might be a little harder, but you’re willing to make the sacrifice. You’re willing to trade off other consumables in your basket of goods for housing, but you can’t put the price point too high because then you will eliminate people who are very ambitious for their housing, so we want to keep the prices moderate. That is always a challenge in an open housing market because the government can’t, by dictate, set the price at which the houses should be sold.
And of course, as I depart from my script, there are those of you who are experts on the housing market, and as the government wrestles with this issue of trying to ensure that the houses that we construct are affordable, and as we put more affordable housing on the market, what you also notice is that people who have higher incomes start to come into the affordable and low-income markets as well.
So, we face all kinds of dynamics. We could be building houses here in this lovely property, and we are targeting these houses for low-income and affordable income, but when people see this lovely view, when people realize that it is so close to St James and that the weather is so cool and salubrious, they may say, well, this is the home for me, even though they could afford a higher home. But what that does is it displaces a unit for someone who is in the low-income or affordable market, so the housing market is very, very complex, and we are trying to find all kinds of measures to ensure that we can satisfy demand.
This development will occupy close to 430 acres of land, and it is located just two and a half kilometers south of the North Coast Highway and east of the Greenwood Housing Development. Now, the location is not accidental, it is strategic. Barrett Hall sits within reach of the growing tourism belt along the North Coast, giving homeowners access to jobs, education, and commerce. We are creating not only a place for people to live, but we are trying to create a vibrant, well-connected community where people can thrive.
Let’s take a moment to consider the features that will define this development. It. Each housing unit will include an open-concept layout, basic built-in kitchen fixtures, a laundry area, and bathrooms designed for accessibility. The external design will incorporate modern architectural textures and volumes reflecting a sense of pride and identity, and the infrastructure will be robust and comprehensive with roads, sidewalks and signage, potable water system, storm water drainage, centralized sewage treatment plant and electrical distributions complete with streetlights.
I’m not seeing here where they say swimming pool and jogging trail, but I’m saying it for the hearing of the developers. Maybe not the swimming pool, but certainly the jogging trail and playground for the children, so I’ve said it publicly now. We consider these features essential for dignified living. They’re not luxuries. We have to build today for not just the idea of shelter but also for the idea of health. So, let’s just build that from the start. We want people to be able to live long enough to enjoy their homes.
When we build what we consider to be the necessities, especially in communities, we must have a park for the children to play. We can’t have them all locked to their screens and on computers. We have to get them out. When we were growing up, our parents have to call us in. The children who are growing up, now you have to send them out, but you have to have somewhere to send them to that is safe and that you have equipment there that will challenge them to exercise. I’m directing Martin, to work on the amenities to include the park for the children to play and a jogging trail for the homeowners to get at least 30 minutes of vigorous exercise per day.
With such a large project as this one, you can anticipate that there will be a significant boost to the local economy, starting with the employment of skilled and unskilled labour but you notice that when these sites are up, you have people who have to provide food, security, and of course the people who supply the material so this is not just about the homeowners, this is about boosting the economy of the area.
Now, we have to situate Barrett Hall in a broader context. Today’s event is one of many groundbreaking ceremonies we will hold across the island as part of an ambitious housing agenda. Just this month, I broke ground for 1,758 units in Mount Nelson in Manchester, and that is just one of 12 active projects now at contract or construction stage, representing 11,322 Housing Solutions across Jamaica. These include:
● Dry Valley in Trelawny, 1,560 units
● Brampton Farms in St Catherine, 2000 units
● Longville Park Pen in Clarendon, 2077 units
● Roselle in St Thomas, 660 units
● Spot Valley, right here in St James, 480 units
● And there are several others which I won’t name, but in planning and design, which we have currently underway is another 10,598 solutions including 5,000 in Longville, phase four in Clarendon.
Over the next two years, we will commence construction, therefore, on over 19,500 housing solutions island-wide. We are not just meeting demand by calling out numbers, we are meeting the demand by supporting the construction and developer section of the housing market. Developers have told us that while the NHT’s 5% mobilization advance is useful, it often doesn’t go far enough, especially given that civil infrastructure can account for up to 25% of project costs, and that is why we are revising the financing framework for both the developers and the guaranteed purchasers program.
Going forward, in addition to the 5% mobilization advance, the NHT will provide an additional 20% in the developers’ programme and 15% under the guaranteed purchase program to reimburse developers as they achieve infrastructure milestones. This will ease the cash flow burden and reduce delays. It is important that I mention this because as the competition for your minds heats up and we get into the promising season, promises will be made which will suggest that horses can fly, and I’ve heard several, especially in housing.
Two years ago, I gave a direction to the National Land Agency, The Sugar Company of Jamaica, the Ministry of Agriculture, and indeed several government entities that own government lands. The reason why I did that is that I wanted to find out what lands do we have in the government portfolio that we could bring into housing and give it to the person who is buying the house. In other words, to take away the cost of the land from the house. We went through a comprehensive exercise, and I have a portfolio of about 2000 acres of land split up all over Jamaica, owned by various entities that we could put into construction of housing and not charge for the cost of the land in the housing.
It is an idea that we’re still reflecting on because the question would be the equity issue. How do we determine who gets that value in land? Is it just the people who can afford to buy the house? If you can afford to buy the house, then you get that subsidy written off in land so there’s an equity issue, which we have to work out in our minds from a policy perspective, how we address that.
Other people aren’t concerned with equity, they make wishes and promises. Then, there is the issue of what would really be the value. That would be subtracted from the total cost of the house in land, and as it turns out, it’s not that significant. The developers will tell you that, especially if you’re dealing with government land. It’s not going to be that significant and it really depends on the land that you have and the location where the land is.
As it turns out, the lands that we have immediate access to that we own, that we could use, much of it is marginal. In other words, the lands that we could do that with, that we own, that we wouldn’t have to go and purchase, we have it on our books already; much of it is marginal, meaning it is on the periphery of an estate that is already developed. It is going up into hillsides and rocky terrain, or it is extremely remote, which would mean that you would have to put in infrastructure to get there in order for it to be used.
Where should we direct our efforts right away then if that is not something that you can bring to maturity right now? The efforts really ought to be directed at how you get the infrastructure cost for housing down because the infrastructure cost is about 25% of the total cost of the house. And how do you get the infrastructure cost down?
Well, that’s a difficult one because it requires the government to put up a great deal of subsidy when you’re talking about sewage plants, water supply systems, drainage and roadway infrastructure. I mean, it’s one thing to have the cost of the roadway in the development absorbed into the house. It’s another thing now when you have to consider building a road to the development and then to put that cost on the house that is going to be purchased.
Then there are other issues as well when it comes to infrastructure, particularly when you’re dealing with climate change, and you have to now meet certain standards to address hundred-year events, which are now happening with greater frequency and intensity. So, the level of infrastructure that you’re required to build is much higher today than, let’s say, 50 years ago.
And then there is another problem with the infrastructure, depending on the size of the housing development, the infrastructure costs can be reduced on a per unit basis, but we do not have right across Jamaica the size of lots and development areas available that would reduce the per unit cost of infrastructure, and therefore you would see that some of the projects that we are declaring here today would be small developments, a 400 acre development like this one. It sounds like many units, 1,500, but it is really very small.
For us to bring infrastructure costs down and bring the average cost of the unit down, we need to be producing many, many more houses on larger plots of land, and that is why we did the Bernard Lodge Master Development Plan, where we found it’s not a novel solution. This is what is practiced all over the world, where the developers put upon infrastructure costs, all the developers share the infrastructure costs. The government took the cost of the master planning, and we put in all the infrastructure at once, and then all the developers do is go plug and play. They’re just building, and those costs will be moderated.
And then we have announced recently a similar project to the Bernard Lodge Project, which is now called the Greater Innswood Development, where a master plan will be done there for all the small developments that are in that area but we are also going to cooperate on doing the infrastructure to bring that infrastructure cost down with government support, which will include government’s budgetary support in some instances.
These are some of the things that we have to do to address the real issues that impact housing. So, as I say, it’s good in the promising season that people are going to tell you that they’re going to give you horses that can fly, but you have to be very careful of those promises. Study them carefully. Look at the real facts and the real constraints because, at the end of the day, should you believe that horses can fly and you accept that promise, you will be greatly disappointed.
The reality is that your administration, this government, has put in place all the possible measures that balance the fiscal responsibility, the environmental concerns, the land availability, the market conditions, and the housing financing to come up with what I would consider to be the optimum solutions. For example, if infrastructure issues create a problem for developers, particularly in terms of the cost of financing it, then the way in which the NHT can deal with that is as I have announced.
Instead of giving you a 5% mobilization because you have to do the infrastructure development upfront, we will give you more in terms of mobilization so that you can adequately undertake the infrastructure development because what I have noticed as the minister of housing and I have seen, is that when the developers start and they run into financial problems, particularly at the infrastructure phase, then the project drags out.
What you see happen is that the escalation and the increases get added at the end, so we don’t want that to impact the cost of housing, and therefore what we have decided to do is to support the developers with greater financing upfront so that they can very quickly complete the infrastructure undertaking that they need. These are the kinds of practical, real solutions that ensure that you can have the delivery of housing.
Recently, I announced another innovation, which we call the small developers’ programme. And I want to take a little bit of time here, since I have you captive and you appear to be still interested in what I’m saying, to explain what that is.
We have approximately 150,000 houses needed in Jamaica. There is a deficit. You don’t need it all at one time, but when you do the projections up to five years from now, it’s about 150,000 shortfall. The private sector is going fairly well. At the higher end of the housing market, I would even say that there may be an oversupply, so the private market for the higher end is doing very well.
Where we have a challenge is the private market supplying the low end, and therefore, it’s not a market failure, really; it’s just the nature of the market, and therefore, the government has to play a role. And the government can play a role by financing as we have done, and we have taken some creative ways to finance developers so that they can bring houses in the lower end, and I should here say that not all developers want to participate in the lower end of the housing market. In fact, we have a challenge right there because it’s low margins, high risk, and so I want to commend WIHCON, a large corporate entity, for recognizing that.
People believe that the NHT builds the house. The NHT is not designed to build houses. The NHT is a financing entity, and what it does, it has to have partners like WIHCON. We need partners like WIHCON that have the advanced skills to manage development at scale. In fact, we need more persons, more corporate entities like WIHCON who can manage housing developments at scale.
I’d love to see the day when I’m announcing 10,000 houses being built all at once, but we don’t have that capacity and capability just yet. We’re building towards it, and so I take the opportunity to recognize and thank WIHCON. I know it’s not an easy road, and I see Martin, the managing director of NHT, is laughing. It’s a private joke, but there have been many times when I’ve had to intercede and say to my friends at WIHCON that we understand. Understand and work with us because WIHCON needs to make a profit, and NHT needs to protect the contributor’s funds, and the two things don’t always work together, so you have to find a middle ground.
And then there is policy. We set policy, but by the time you go to execute, what you’re executing may run into conflict with policy, and there has to be a constant revision of what’s the threshold that we set, what’s the minimum standard that we set. At the end of the day, however, you have given us the authority to exercise certain discretions and follow certain rules to be able to deliver the housing that you want. It’s not as simple as people believe. It’s quite complex, but I believe that we have a good formula and across the table negotiating with government are persons who have Jamaica’s best interest at heart, and I want to commend WIHCON for being at the table with us with the NHT.
This would be in recent time about your third or fourth major development and your second in St James. And the one that you have done before has done quite well in St James. So the small developers’ programme is designed to deal with- I hate to use the term brownfield, but the large developers usually take on greenfield developments like this land, and you have to go and put in infrastructure. But right across Jamaica and in particular, Kingston and St Andrew and in particular Downtown Kingston, there are many communities that were built just like this community is going to be built, and they were residential, high-value residential communities 30, 40, 50 years ago. The owners have died, children have migrated, people have abandoned the property, and urban blight is setting in.
Now, those properties can be redeveloped, but you’re not going to get the development singularly meaning on one road, somebody say I’m going to redevelop my property and then two roads over, somebody. What you really need is a critical mass, and so what the NHT is going to do with the small developers’ programme is to work within a cluster, within an area, get the people who own the properties together to say, if you were all to come together and pool your properties together, we could develop this into multifamily structures, and you could take back out the value of your property several times over in these developments.
The beauty of it is that the infrastructure already exists. The roads are already cut; the pipes are already laid. They may need to be changed. They’re in close proximity to sewage. The electricity poles and wires are already there. In other words, the small developers’ programme is designed to assist with urban renewal and bring homes hope solutions and shelter solutions closer to where the economic activity exists. And so these are the kinds of solutions that we have to bring to the table. This is not a horse, but believe me, it will fly.
So let me remind you that from the 1st of July 2025, deposit requirements for contributors earning less than $30,000 weekly will be reduced from 5% to 2% for open market purchases under $14 million. This is not a horse that can fly. This is a real commitment that is made effective the 1st of July. This will be very helpful to person seeking to purchase homes.
Service charges will drop to zero for contributors in that same income band, meaning persons earning less than $30,000 per week and 2% for those earning up to $42,000 weekly. Again, this is a real incentive that will impact low-income earners. The Home Grant programme will now be available to contributors earning up to $30,000 weekly with a maximum grant of $3.5 million. Again, another tangible benefit, not a wish, not a promise, not a dream; come the 1st of July this year, this will be available.
Now, we know that some contributors have taken loans to build homes but, due to rising costs, have been unable to complete them. For those earning less than $30,000 weekly, the NHT will now offer either an additional loan up to the difference between their current balance and an $11 million cap or a home grant up to $3.5 million to help bring the home to completion, especially for pensioners or others who cannot take on more debt and this is very important.
The housing market is not just persons who are seeking to purchase. We also know that there are many persons who have purchased and have probably started construction or started improvement, and they’re not able to finish. They have the house burden on them, they can’t live in the incomplete structure, they’re still paying rent so they’re not able to fully enjoy a new home. What the NHT is doing is considering the real practical situation; they will provide you with a loan, a cap of up to $11 million, subject to your income affordability, or if not, we will consider you for the Home Grant of $3.5 million. Again, a practical way in which the NHT has your back and is ensuring that you can have shelter.
We’re also targeting various sectors through the targeted institutional loan programme. We will be providing housing for public health workers starting with the University Hospital and one rural hospital. The University of the West Indies, for example, has land, and we will provide them with the financing to build housing solutions for the people who work at the hospitals. Again, another creative solution to provide targeted relief to persons seeking homes.
We’re going to do the same thing for tourism. The TEF has some resources, but we are going to be partnering with them to provide housing solutions for the tourism workers. By the way, this development, I’m sure, will be an enclave for tourism workers. We are expanding the loan limits. As of the 1st of July, individual loans will move from $7.5 million to $9 million. For two co-applicants, it will move from $15 million to $17 million, and for three applicants, from $21 million to $23 million, and this is very helpful in terms of being able to meet what the cost of the homes are.
Now, we notice, and I’ve said it before I say it again, that whenever we increase the loan limits, somehow the prices for the homes also move. And what we have done this time around, and as we did the last time, is to put in a disincentive for developers to unfairly and unjustifiably move their price. What we have said is if you are purchasing a home that is at a particular price point, the new loan limit will be higher. If you’re purchasing a home that is in the $14 million range, you can get $12 million as the loan limit. In other words, what we have done is to skew the individual loan limit in favour of houses whose prices are lower to ensure that low-income earners get a fair chance of purchasing their home.
Remember what I said earlier, that as we try to control the prices, people with higher income are going to purchase houses that are lower than their income band, and that will squeeze out the low-income owners, so we have to be very creative as we go about providing the financing for housing.
Ladies and gentlemen, all of this reinforces the simple truth. We’re not only building homes, but we are ensuring that there is equity in housing ownership in the society. Equity is important. When you’re making policy, there are some things that instinctively sound good. Give every young person a $500,000 grant to own their own home, and then I get a call, ‘Prime Minister, so you’re going to give middle-aged people too because we deserve it too. We have been there in the market longer, hoping to get a house.’
That’s a question of equity. They might not say anything publicly because it sounds good. We really should help young people, but there are those thinking, I’ve been here in the housing market so long and can’t make my deposit. What about me? And these are the questions of equity, fairness, and when public officials start to make promises without looking at not just the fiscal cost, meaning the monetary cost that comes with it, without also looking at the equity issues, it creates a sense of unfairness in the society. And so whenever we are trying to, as I said, prepare the goodie basket, we have to look very carefully at what we present to the electorate, not just what sounds good and is sweet to the ear, but we also want it to be healthy long term for the country and for the citizenry, that it is fair and just.
So, ladies and gentlemen, we’re building an equitable housing market, and we’re trying to create as many opportunities as possible for you to own your own home and what we are doing here in this lovely, lovely location, if you could see The Vista behind me of the very blue Caribbean Sea. A part of it looked green too, if you’ll just look closer to the shore but it’s very beautiful and I’m sure everybody’s going to want to make here their new home.
I close by thanking all who have contributed to bringing us to this moment: the teams at the NHT, WIHCON, our ministry and agency and the people of St James. Together, let us keep building forward, one unit, one family, one community at a time.
Thank you. May God bless you all and always choose Jamaica. God bless you.