Leonardo Blair, Enterprise ReporterWHILE THE National Housing Trust (NHT) has embarked on a $5 billion urban renewal plan to rehouse several inner-city residents in low-cost apartment projects, the housing giant is still owed nearly $22 million in mortgage payments from similar efforts carried out several years ago in communities such as Denham Town and Trench Town.
"The NHT does have a number of outstanding mortgages in the communities of Trench Town and Denham Town. We have experienced delays in the collection of mortgage payments in these communities because in many instances, the original beneficiaries no longer occupy the units. In the meantime, we are continuing our efforts to regularise the current situation," said the trust in response to questions from The Sunday Gleaner.
Of the 353 accounts held against properties in Trench Town and Denham Town, only 13 of those are current, explained the NHT.
Another eight have been in arrears for less than a year, while the staggering majority have arrears exceeding one year.
"The NHT is fully aware that the inner-city project is a high- risk one and has structured mortgage products to reflect this. The NHT has an ongoing social development programme which is aimed in part at guiding the new mortgagors on matters pertaining to the payment of their mortgages," the housing agency further explained. Trust officials also pointed out that they would be implementing a range of employment and training programmes to increase the rate of employment and the level of incomes in these communities.
Local police say they have seen the housing models before and they were perfect. Sustaining the new sub-culture amid the aggressive social decay is another matter.
"It has happened before," said Detective Sergeant Adison of the Denham Town police. "But check in some of these communities now and see how many of these houses are empty because of violence and the general way in which people live."
The first batch of beneficiaries under the NHT's Inner-City Housing Project are those at the Denham Town (Little King Street) site. Following the handing over of the units in August 2005, the beneficiaries were given a six-month moratorium on mortgage payments. They began making mortgage payments in February 2006. Current mortgagors pay on average just over $3,000 a month to occupy a two-bedroom apartment.
