I’m going to do a thread on how Jamaica is going down a slippery slope with their housing developments and these exorbitant prices, and what we can learn from Portland, Oregon and LA’s Skid Row.

Lmaooooo sorry guys. I forgot the word “tomorrow”.

So, lemme start by providing some context. I have been to several countries and cities in my lifetime (>20) and I have never seen the level of poverty and homelessness anywhere that I saw in Portland, Oregon. I'm talking EXTREME, especially for a "rich" country like USA

Yes, Jamaica is a poor country and yes we have serious poverty issues, but this is unlike anything I have ever seen. I would also stop to note that I am not a realtor, urban planner, economist or sociologist. This is my opinion based on conversation, research and observation

When I was travelling, people warned me about this issues, but to see it for yourself is mind-blowing. Imagine driving through the city, and see "mini-settlements" of tents just perched on the pavement of HWT or Knutsford Blvd. Kinda like this

In Jamaica, we have the occasional madman, who will sleep on the road, but this is entire families, (with their dogs too).
Who not sleeping in tent, sleeps in their car ANYWHERE they can park it. The first thing that hit me was that Portland had two pandemics; Covid and this

So ofc, the rationale person will ask WTF is going on here? They can't ALL be mad, or on drugs. Turns out, they weren't. Yes a decent portion of them were on drugs, but even crazier were that these were people who had been priced out of their homes. Meaning THEY CANNOT AFFORD IT

So I decided to ask some questions & what I found out was crazy. Firstly, Portland had some of the highest housing (rent) prices in the country, coming in behind big cities like New York & LA. Unsurprisingly, their homeless numbers were also in the top 3/5 (depending on source)

But how do we get to the point where normal people who are living in their house and have their job, get up one day and cant afford their rent? Here's how: Commercial Landlords

So apparently here's how it works. Big Corporation (or Developers) buys regular house or plot from a normal mom & pop family. Knocks it down and builds luxury apartments (Sound familiar?). OR they buy an apartment block and renovate it so that they can increase the rent.

This is the practice that we are currently seeing in Kingston. Local developers with a lot more cash are squeezing out regular buyers from the market by offering above selling price AND paying up front cash. Quicker, more secure sale without waiting on bloody banks

They buy up an acre lot for $25-$40mill, knock down the house, build 10-15 aptmts that cost $30m a piece. What do you think is happening to house prices? What is the demand/supply? WHO were they targeting?What are the occupation rates? WHO is buying them? Can they maintain them?

Who's their "target demographic"? Expats and high earners apparently. (Wherever those people are). Returning residents apparently. Average working jamaican? Move out or be priced out

So you may ask, why didnt the people in LA or Portland move to a different town? First of all, some of them still work. Why would you move far from your job? Economically transit costs are not much cheaper anyway. So what do you end up with? Tent city.

Now imagine a settlement of people with no access to running water or sewage facilities. Imagine what that means for the spread of disease and the strain on public services. Imagine the increase in petty crimes.

I can easily see Jamaica falling into this trap, and with everything else going on, we really cannot afford those kind of social problems,

I understand the need for increased housing, but the key word is AFFORDABLE

And here endeth my essay lmao