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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><SPAN class=TopStory>NHT changing the face of inner cities</SPAN>
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>Ken Chaplin
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=80 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Ken Chaplin</SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>There is widespread belief that Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller would be acting illegally if she were to take $15 billion from the National Housing Trust (NHT) to finance the inner-city housing project, unless there are legal changes governing use of the fund. Opinion is strong that the NHT surplus from which the government said it would take money to finance the project does not belong to the government. The state holds it in trust for contributors - employees who contribute two per cent of their pay to the fund and employers who put up three per cent.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Many people feel that the government has no legal authority to dip into the trust fund and are prepared to march against any attempt by the government to extract money from the surplus. Already, the previous administration of PJ Patterson grabbed $5 billion from the fund for education, but people reluctantly accepted this because of the state of education which is critical to the country's development. The view is that if money from the surplus is to be used for inner-city housing, the decision of how much and where the housing schemes are to be placed ought to be the sole prerogative of the trustee - the NHT. Preference must be given to the employee contributors because there are thousands of them without adequate housing. The NHT says that they can apply for the housing benefits.<P class=StoryText align=justify>There is real fear among Jamaicans that the government will continue to put pressure on NHT surplus and National Insurance investment to finance projects from which it may gain political mileage, or in other words "run wid' it" as it did for the 2002 general elections which created serious financial problems from which the country has not yet recovered. A total of $1 billion is already being taken from the NIS, another scheme to which employees contribute, even from their pension, to provide loans for small business development. As far as this column is concerned, if the government can lend so much money to the company which is building the highway, it sees no problem with providing loans to small people for business, so long as adequate arrangements can be made for repayment.<P class=StoryText align=justify>In the meantime, the NHT, well recognised for its efficiency and transparency, has opened new dimensions in its operations. Recently, I requested information from the NHT on its housing programmes, especially the Inner City Housing Project (ICHP), and was invited by the managing director, Earl Samuels, to meet a team of some of its top officers. They were Dr Vincent George, senior general manager, corporate services division; Suzanne Wynter-Burke, assistant general manager, loan administration; Norman Anderson, director of ICHP; Wendy-Jo Williams, social development manager, NHT and Kim-Marie Spence, social development manager, ICHP. It was a good example in transparency.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Many years ago when housing schemes were being developed in depressed areas, very little consideration was given to the social development of the people living in those communities, or to the communities themselves. The result was that some of the communities turned into slums. The houses were there but the social well-being of the people had negative effects, including crime. However, depressed areas have been re-named inner cities and social development programmes established
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>Ken Chaplin
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=80 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Ken Chaplin</SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>There is widespread belief that Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller would be acting illegally if she were to take $15 billion from the National Housing Trust (NHT) to finance the inner-city housing project, unless there are legal changes governing use of the fund. Opinion is strong that the NHT surplus from which the government said it would take money to finance the project does not belong to the government. The state holds it in trust for contributors - employees who contribute two per cent of their pay to the fund and employers who put up three per cent.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Many people feel that the government has no legal authority to dip into the trust fund and are prepared to march against any attempt by the government to extract money from the surplus. Already, the previous administration of PJ Patterson grabbed $5 billion from the fund for education, but people reluctantly accepted this because of the state of education which is critical to the country's development. The view is that if money from the surplus is to be used for inner-city housing, the decision of how much and where the housing schemes are to be placed ought to be the sole prerogative of the trustee - the NHT. Preference must be given to the employee contributors because there are thousands of them without adequate housing. The NHT says that they can apply for the housing benefits.<P class=StoryText align=justify>There is real fear among Jamaicans that the government will continue to put pressure on NHT surplus and National Insurance investment to finance projects from which it may gain political mileage, or in other words "run wid' it" as it did for the 2002 general elections which created serious financial problems from which the country has not yet recovered. A total of $1 billion is already being taken from the NIS, another scheme to which employees contribute, even from their pension, to provide loans for small business development. As far as this column is concerned, if the government can lend so much money to the company which is building the highway, it sees no problem with providing loans to small people for business, so long as adequate arrangements can be made for repayment.<P class=StoryText align=justify>In the meantime, the NHT, well recognised for its efficiency and transparency, has opened new dimensions in its operations. Recently, I requested information from the NHT on its housing programmes, especially the Inner City Housing Project (ICHP), and was invited by the managing director, Earl Samuels, to meet a team of some of its top officers. They were Dr Vincent George, senior general manager, corporate services division; Suzanne Wynter-Burke, assistant general manager, loan administration; Norman Anderson, director of ICHP; Wendy-Jo Williams, social development manager, NHT and Kim-Marie Spence, social development manager, ICHP. It was a good example in transparency.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Many years ago when housing schemes were being developed in depressed areas, very little consideration was given to the social development of the people living in those communities, or to the communities themselves. The result was that some of the communities turned into slums. The houses were there but the social well-being of the people had negative effects, including crime. However, depressed areas have been re-named inner cities and social development programmes established
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