Housing gets $2.5B

Government will invest TT $1.38 billion towards the national housing construction programme between 2005-2007. According to Housing Minister Dr Keith Rowley, this is in addition to the $1.2 billion already invested in the joint venture programme with the banking consortium to provide mortgage financing. It would therefore take the total investment in housing to $2.5 billion during this period. Rowley said the money would be raised through the floating of a bond by the Ministry of Finance. He said the money would be distributed as follows: $307 million on the infrastructure costs associated with the housing developments; $322 million on the Infill programme (in which houses would be constructed on vacant lots within existing housing developments; $322 million on the Urban Renewal Programme (geared largely towards servicing the demand for rental units in Port-of-Spain and similar areas) and $376 million on the Rent-to-Own Programme.

Explaining the rationale of the rent-to-own programme, Rowley stated that a signficant number — 43 percent — of the persons applying to NHA for houses, earns less than $3,000 a month and therefore cannot afford a mortgage for even the cheaper NHA units. He said if Government was to satisfy the needs of the full spectrum of persons who require housing, then it had to find other mechanisms for home ownership. He said one such proposal was the rent-to-own programme. This allows a person to pay rent, and after five years, they can apply for a mortgage under a system where 60 percent of what was paid as rental is applied towards their mortgage.

Rowley said the investment Government was making would fund the cost of these units. Giving details on the NHA’s database, Rowley said approximately 70,000 persons applied to NHA for housing. Of those applicants, six percent earn $8,000 and above; ten percent earn between $6,000 and $8,000 a month; ten percent between $5,000 and $6,000 a month; 14 percent earn between $4,000 and $5,000 a month and 60 percent earn less than $4,000 per month. In fact, 43 percent, “almost half of the applicants” for NHA housing earn less than $3,000.