Should the People’s National Party (PNP) form government after the upcoming General Election on September 3, it has promised to deliver 50,000 houses on lands not suitable for agriculture, and buyers will only be required to pay for the dwelling structure.

They have also promised to launch a Rent-to-Own Programme and create a special $1 billion Young Owners Deposit Fund through the National Housing Trust (NHT).

The Opposition Leader again preached about these initiatives at the PNP’s Kingston and St. Andrew Parish Meeting on Saturday, August 16, in Cross Roads, Kingston.

“We’re going to be building 50,000 affordable houses in our first term. We’re going to have them all across Jamaica, and we’re going to build them on public lands not suitable for agriculture, and we’re not going to include the value of the land in the price of the house, because we want the people of Jamaica, who need affordable houses to be able to access it, and they’re going to get real value for money, because the land will be theirs, and they don’t have to pay a price for that,” Golding said.

“That’s where we’re going to reform the National Housing Trust and restore it to its true mission; the original purpose for which it was formed under Michael Joshua Manley to provide homes for the people of Jamaica who need that help,” he added.

For the young persons who cannot afford a deposit for a house, the PNP intends to set aside $1 billion per year through the NHT and provide a grant, which will not have to be repaid, for anyone up to 45 years of age who has been a subscriber to the NHT for up to two years. They can qualify when they are buying their first house under the Young Person Deposit Fund.  

The Young Person Deposit Fund will also allow young people under 35, who have contributed to the NHT for at least two years, to access a $500,000 deposit grant.

Golding said the Rent to Own programme will be for persons who are often not qualified for mortgages, such as farmers, taxi operators, cook shop operators, cosmetologists, barbers, hairdressers, etc, because they cannot prove an income, and they do not have a formal pay slip.

“You can go in as a tenant, and as long as you’re paying your rent, and the rent is equivalent to the mortgage, after six months, if you’re on target, we will say, ‘You have proved your income. You’re entitled to the mortgage loan. You can draw down the financing, and step up from being a tenant, and being an owner with your own door key, because the time come for a better life,” Golding said.

The PNP intends to also change the law for land occupancy and eventual ownership from 60 years to 25 years, if they are voted into government.

“This is why when it comes to home ownership, we have to change some of the oppressive laws that are inherited from way back in colonial times, when they said if you’re occupying public land, you can’t become entitled to own that land, unless 60 years have passed. That was a time when the life expectancy of people on Earth was not even 60 years. They never wanted anybody who didn’t already own land to ever acquire land,” Golding said.

Golding said they have the Portia Programme for all of the unfinished Operation Pride Schemes across Jamaica, where the PNP would, as government, complete the infrastructure and ensure titles are issued.

He also said the same will be done for informal settlers under the Portia Programme, because the PNP wants people to be owners of this country and not second-class citizens.