Letter of the Day | Lack of housing responsible for low birth rates

THE EDITOR, Madam:

The National Housing Trust (NHT) has made modest adjustments aimed at increasing access to home ownership, raising loan ceilings, reducing interest rates, and tweaking eligibility requirements. While these efforts are acknowledged, the reality is that, for most young Jamaicans, home ownership is still an unattainable dream. The support offered by NHT, though well-intentioned, is vastly inadequate when compared to the actual cost of houses. With starter homes priced between $20 and $35 million, the assistance provided barely makes a dent. As a result, countless young professionals are locked out of home ownership and are instead confined to the overcrowded and overpriced rental market.

This situation is more than an economic inconvenience. It has significant social consequences that we are only beginning to understand. Chief among them is Jamaica’s declining birth rate, a trend that has worsened over the past decade. How can young people be expected to start families when they cannot even secure a place to live? For many, the desire to build a stable home, raise children, is overshadowed by the daily struggle to meet basic needs. With housing insecurity, the decision to have children is often delayed or abandoned altogether.

The cost of home ownership has effectively become a form of birth control. In a time when we should be empowering the next generation, we are instead forcing them to live in limbo. They are renting, postponing, and emigrating. It is no coincidence that, as the housing market becomes more exclusive and speculative, the birthrate falls. These are not unrelated trends. They are deeply connected symptoms of a system that no longer prioritises its youth.

If young Jamaicans continue to be locked out of housing, they will inevitably be locked out of family life. The government must treat the housing crisis, not only as an economic issue but also as a national demographic emergency. Regulation of the housing market is essential. This is not to stifle development, but to ensure that development is fair, inclusive, and sustainable. Developers must be held accountable for pricing young people out of ownership, and the State must create real and accessible pathways for young citizens to become home owners.

Jamaica’s future is at risk, not because our young people lack ambition, but because they lack access. The dream of home ownership must not be reserved for the wealthy or for those living abroad. If we do not act swiftly and strategically, we may find ourselves not just in the middle of a housing crisis, but in the middle of a population decline that will take generations to reverse.

LEROY FEARON JR