Executive report : shelter sector mortgage credit and subsidy policy -- the National Housing Trust and Caribbean Housing Finance Corporation

Credit is only one element of shelter production, and credit subsidies are only part of the total subsidy made available to the shelter sector. As the Government of Jamaica (1986, 1987) has recognized, a true shelter sector strategy will require an integrated approach that ranges from rationalization of land titling and development regulations to a shift in output mix away from finished housing toward gradual site development over time, as well as supportive credit policies. Nonetheless, credit institutions and credit policy are a critical part of the sector. In Jamaica, as in many other countries, credit subsidies constitute by far the largest subsidies provided for housing development. An understanding of how these subsidies are delivered, who benefits from them, their dollar costs, and the impacts they have on both private finance for the shelter sector and financial markets at large is essential to future sectoral policy reform.