(CNS): The Cayman Islands Government has earmarked land held by the National Housing Development Trust in George Town, at the end of Courts Road, for its first effort to build multi-storey social housing. So far, the homes that had been funded and built by the government-owned trust have been two- and three-bedroom single-family houses. The need to squeeze more units into crown-owned property has emerged from the government’s task force to tackle the housing crisis and the cost of land.

Appearing on Radio Cayman’s For the Record last week, Planning Minister Jay Ebanks, who has responsibility for affordable homes, responded to concerns about the lack of affordable home projects happening in the capital.

The cost of property has been driving George Towners out of their own district, and the government is facing criticism from the opposition as well as from working families unable to buy a home. But Ebanks said his ministry was developing affordable homes across the Cayman Islands including the capital. “We are committed to building homes… in George Town,” he said.

The site behind the old Cox store (now Blackbeard’s) “is probably going to be one of our first test sites for a multi-storey complex,” Ebanks said, adding that the government is looking for additional crown land in the capital for affordable homes. However, the NHDT will not be building on the 24-acre plot government already owns off the Linford Pierson Highway because of drainage problems.

“It’s not that we don’t want to build on that site… but there is development to the west of Randyke [Gardens] and this property is to the east of Randyke,” he said. “If we develop that particular site to the… standards and the heights it has to come, Randyke will be worse than it is right now.” He said the government had to find a solution to the long-running problem of flooding in that area before any more development could happen on that land.

The minister has previously indicated that the site, which is mainly mangrove wetlands, would not be developed. In October 2021, local environmental activists met with Ebanks after submitting a proposal for a mangrove preservation area, asking him to reconsider using the land for development and marking it for conservation instead.

At the time CNS spoke with NHDT Director Julio Ramos, who agreed it was a particularly environmentally sensitive area and said that if the Trust could get equivalent land elsewhere, they would not object to the land being reclaimed by the crown for conservation.

Building homes that ordinary working Caymanians can afford is becoming a critical issue, given that the average price of residential property sold in the Cayman Islands in 2022 was US$1.32 million, an increase of more than 9% on the previous year. No substantial drop in property prices is expected and private sector developers continue to focus almost exclusively on the high end of the market, which has created a housing crisis for ordinary workers, compounded by a lack of reliable public transport.

Because of extreme traffic congestion and poor transport provision, even if people are able to find homes to either rent or buy in the Eastern Districts, the commute can make life very difficult, especially for working parents. As a result, the government is looking to plug the gap by providing homes for workers to live in and around the capital.

Speaking to Chamber of Commerce members earlier this month, Premier Wayne Panton committed to “substantial new investment in affordable housing” as part of the Cayman Sustainability Agenda. He said that the National Housing Development Trust was poised to deliver 100 affordable homes in the next two years.

“We must build more affordable housing,” the premier said. “Building more affordable housing means the construction of apartment blocks and single-family homes. But, it also means examining our laws to allow us to take advantage of the land we have to increase density and build more homes.

“Building up two or three floors, not thirty storeys in this case, will allow us to conserve our land, add more housing units to the market and bring down costs,” he said, noting the current debate on very tall buildings, a proposition promoted by both Deputy Premier Chris Saunders and McKeeva Bush MP, who recently filed a private member’s motion in the parliament.

“Denser communities will also help us address our transportation and health issues by improving walkability in our country,” Panton added. However, he did not indicate how high the apartments would be, given that there are now parts of George Town that allow for as much as ten storeys.

Bush’s motion asked the government to consider lifting height restrictions in some areas to allow buildings up to 20 storeys, mainly catering to the demands of wealthy developers. Although he accepted the PMM, the premier told parliament he wanted to see a national debate about the issue first.

“I feel strongly that we need to include the people of the country,” he said at the time, noting that previous decisions to increase building heights were reactions to lobbying from specific developers. He said that future increases should be properly planned since Cayman is already suffering the consequences of excessive and poorly planned development.

With the erosion on Seven Mile Beach, there is a need to put an end to development there and begin some type of managed retreat. In light of this, Panton accepted that tall buildings might be the answer to that costly problem. “Managed retreat is necessary,” he said. “A compromise in respect of that is to allow buildings to go higher… That is what I think the people of this country have a right to have a say in and not just us making assumptions about what people feel.”

Panton has not said how this would impact social housing and how tall he believes affordable apartment blocks might be.

See Jay Ebanks on Radio Cayman below:

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