Christopher Burgess | Fixing housing crisis for young professionals

HOUSING IS the foundation for economic and societal progress. A home is an appreciating asset that enables wealth creation and emotional security for families. Formal housing encourages positive social interaction, reduces crime, and promotes a healthier environment. It can be economically transformative for Jamaica.

Jamaica, however, faces a severe housing crisis caused by social injustice, a deficit of affordable housing, and a stagnant, low-wage economy, leaving young professionals with little hope for home ownership. According to World Economic Brain Drain Index 2024, over 85 per cent of our young professionals will leave the country upon graduation. This crisis affects over one million Jamaicans, trapping families in cycles of poverty and insecurity.

The crisis manifests in both a housing need and a persistent housing demand. For instance:

• Over 20 per cent of Jamaicans live in informal conditions, needing urgent regularisation. Post-Emancipation land policies excluded freedmen, fuelling urban migration and crime, with informal communities experiencing up to 10 times higher crime rates.

• The National Housing Trust (NHT) estimates a demand for 195,000 affordable homes, largely unmet due to housing shortages, low wages, affordability issues, and limited mortgage financing from both private and public sectors.

UNMATCHED PRODUCTIVITY FROM THE 1970S AND 1990S

The housing crisis can be addressed by increasing the production of affordable homes annually with strategic financing to maintain a stable debt-to-GDP ratio. Historical data in the Economic and Social Surveys of the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) highlights two key periods of successful affordable housing initiatives that offer valuable lessons for designing an effective strategy to increase affordable housing supply:

•1967-1982: The Portmore Land Development and Sites and Services Programmes (run by the Ministry of Housing) produced over 18,000 homes, peaking at 10,036 units in 1975. These programmes developed communities such as Edgewater, Bridgeport, Nannyville, and Drewsland and were led by government and funded by the World Bank, respectively.

• 1990-2000: The Greater Portmore and Operation PRIDE programmes issued over 42,000 land titles and 28,000 letters of possession. Housing production peaked at 8,106 units in 1994, with the Ministry of Construction, National Housing Corporation and NHT delivering 82 per cent of completions, while the private sector contributed only 18 per cent.

Currently, housing production is below 2,500 units per year – far behind the 10,000 homes produced annually in the 1970s and 1990s, and well below the required target of 15,000 units per year. How does the Government plan to meet housing needs at its current slow pace, to anchor young professionals to Jamaica?

CHRONIC BRAIN DRAIN

Affordable housing for young professionals is essential for Jamaica’s national development, as retaining these demographic drives economic growth, innovation, and key sectors like healthcare, engineering, manufacturing, education, and business. However, Jamaica faces the world’s third-highest brain drain rate, making housing solutions crucial for the 2,200 young professionals who stay each year.

Simply evicting informal residents to create formal space is not a viable solution; economic studies suggest regularisation benefits both groups. Producing more exorbitant apartments priced at $40-$50 million are also unrealistic for young professionals earning $250,000-$350,000 per month, as home ownership requires salaries much higher than their earnings. Rent in urban areas is similarly unaffordable. How does the Government plan to meet the housing demands of young professionals in the urban areas?

FROM SEWAGE TO SMART CITIES

Jamaica’s urban centres, Kingston, Portmore, Montego Bay, and Spanish Town, are in urgent need of renewal, with ageing and inadequate infrastructure and public spaces. On Wednesday night, TVJ aired another report on raw sewage flows through Kingston’s streets, creating serious health hazards and deterring business activity. Overcrowding, traffic congestion, and housing shortages have plagued these cities for years, making them increasingly unattractive to investors. With strategic intervention, these urban centres can become economic hubs that attract skilled, young professionals and strengthen Jamaica’s economic resilience.

A Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) framework, first proposed by urban planners in 2018 and 2022 (JIS, IDB), offers a viable solution by integrating modern public transit, affordable housing for young professionals in mixed-use districts. Implementing TODs across the cities would involve the replanning and rebuilding of two to eight hectares at much higher densities to accommodate eight- to 14-storey apartments, adjacent to existing major urban roads and interconnecting these urban hubs across the city with improved and widened roads – like Oaklands Apartments on Constant Spring that was implemented in 2003.

Maybe SPARK should be used to kick-start this urban-renewal process. TOD can also reduce traffic congestion that is stifling Kingston, Portmore and Montego Bay, and cut emissions, and support climate resilience. Mixed-use districts with commercial hubs can attract young professionals into spaces that are more compact, connected and coordinated. There are examples of success of TOD with Toronto’s ‘The Big Move’. Jamaica must transform its urban centres into climate-resilient and business-friendly spaces where young professionals can find liveable – and thrive at home.

Suburban projects like Greater Bernard Lodge, Catherine Estate and Edmund Ridge provide some relief, but only account for less than six per cent of annual demand. The Government is already on record with a proposed 18-year ( Gleaner, 2019) timeline for Bernard Lodge. At this rate, Jamaica cannot meet the growing need for affordable housing for young professionals. The prime minister must go beyond small-scale projects and policy recaps; instead, embracing large-scale, transformative and accelerated solutions to prevent worsening the housing crisis and pushing young professionals towards migration.

Christopher Burgess, PhD, is a registered civil engineer, land developer and the managing director of CEAC Solutions Company Limited. He is a Jamaica Institution of Engineers Council member. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.