Many in Diaspora lose homes

Several Jamaicans living in the United States are currently homeless following the crash of several unregulated financial schemes.



It’s reported that many of these overseas investors had mortgaged their homes to place a lump sum in these schemes.



Many of these investors are now facing tough times following the failure of the investment schemes.



Assistant Commissioner of Police, Les Green, who heads of the Major Investigations Taskforce spearheading the enquiry into the failed investment schemes, says Jamaicans overseas are among the top investors in such entities.



And now several of these investors who were once homeowners have reportedly had to resort to renting after losing their homes.



At least one woman mortgaged her home for the US equivalent of JA$6.8 million and placed that money in Cash Plus Limited, one of the failed schemes.



Additionally, for many it is not just the matter of losing their homes, as their problems are now being compounded by the loss of jobs.



With the United States currently experiencing a financial meltdown many companies have had to downsize.



Many Jamaicans who invested in the unregulated schemes are among the 750,000 who have lost their jobs in the United States since the start of the year.



This has even resulted in some Jamaicans returning home after losing everything in the unregulated financial schemes.



A study conducted by the Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CaPRI) last November showed that 21 per cent of 402 local investors in alternative schemes borrowed from financial institutions to obtain their deposits.



And CaPRI says there is evidence that a number of US residents, with ties to Jamaica, had mortgaged their properties to invest in these schemes.