Golding: National Housing Trust, Not What Manley Set It Up For

The National Housing Trust, (NHT) has come under more fire this time, this time from the Opposition Leader, Mark Golding who says the trust has lost sight of its mandate attempting to compete with the private developers. His comments follow a wave of public criticism of the Trust after it revealed its luxury type priced Ruthven Tower units.

The Opposition leader says it is critical the National Housing Trust does more for the contributors who have no other route to homeowner and not the well to do. The Opposition leader says the NHT was never developed to serve those in the highest income brackets but instead to fill the gap for contributors who had no pathway to property ownership.

Mr. Golding noted that persons are upset about the Ruthven Towers development, because the prices are from $20 to $30 million dollars; and added that this was not the initial mandate of the NHT, as he said Norman Manley would have started the Trust to provide affordable housing solutions for workers who otherwise could not afford houses.

Mr. Golding also notes that the initially touted pricing for the units were a fraction of the new figures. He insists that those who can indeed afford those higher cost units should not be the focus of the Trust. He says the 45-year-old institution has veered away from its original mandate.

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