Homeownership in Jamaica
“MEETING NEEDS, MEANS AND DREAMS: THE HOME OWNERSHIP CHALLENGE IN JAMAICA.”
The late Honourable Donald Buchanan, former Minister of Water and Housing, stated in the 2004 Sectoral Presentation, that “home ownership is a Jamaican dream. “It confers on our people a sense of self and identity and undermines the collective sense of rootlessness, displacement and wandering that characterize the socio-historical condition common to Africans in the Diaspora.” Home ownership is a “collective space defined by a sense of place and stability.” As such every Jamaican has a dream of affordable and decent shelter. Housing which provides physical shelter is one of the basic needs of human beings. It also addresses all the needs included in psychologist Abraham Maslow’s well-known hierarchy of needs: psychology, safety, belonging, self-esteem, and self-actualization. Thus, houses are places created and used by people according to their behavioral patterns and living styles. In other words, it is a social, psychological and emotional place, and is perceived as the tool for individuals to settle down, be a family and sustain their existence across generations (Anonymous (a) 2003, Erzen 2006).
As stated by the Honourable Portia Simpson-Miller, in her address to the NHT during the celebration of their 30th anniversary, housing is critical in so many areas of life. She further went on to say that one cannot mention values and attitudes without addressing the issue of housing. In explaining her point, she maintained that Jamaica’s high incidence of carnal abuse is not totally unrelated to housing issues. Children are exposed to sexual activities from an early stage because they inhabit the same cramped space with adult family members. The poverty cycle is perpetuated when children do poorly in school as a result of inadequate housing accommodation which does not facilitate homework and study. Families need space so that they can have privacy, which is a basic human need. Thus,
The late Honourable Donald Buchanan, former Minister of Water and Housing, stated in the 2004 Sectoral Presentation, that “home ownership is a Jamaican dream. “It confers on our people a sense of self and identity and undermines the collective sense of rootlessness, displacement and wandering that characterize the socio-historical condition common to Africans in the Diaspora.” Home ownership is a “collective space defined by a sense of place and stability.” As such every Jamaican has a dream of affordable and decent shelter. Housing which provides physical shelter is one of the basic needs of human beings. It also addresses all the needs included in psychologist Abraham Maslow’s well-known hierarchy of needs: psychology, safety, belonging, self-esteem, and self-actualization. Thus, houses are places created and used by people according to their behavioral patterns and living styles. In other words, it is a social, psychological and emotional place, and is perceived as the tool for individuals to settle down, be a family and sustain their existence across generations (Anonymous (a) 2003, Erzen 2006).
As stated by the Honourable Portia Simpson-Miller, in her address to the NHT during the celebration of their 30th anniversary, housing is critical in so many areas of life. She further went on to say that one cannot mention values and attitudes without addressing the issue of housing. In explaining her point, she maintained that Jamaica’s high incidence of carnal abuse is not totally unrelated to housing issues. Children are exposed to sexual activities from an early stage because they inhabit the same cramped space with adult family members. The poverty cycle is perpetuated when children do poorly in school as a result of inadequate housing accommodation which does not facilitate homework and study. Families need space so that they can have privacy, which is a basic human need. Thus,