Dear Editor,
Every election cycle, governments promise more land and more housing. It is politically popular, emotionally appealing and, for many families, tied to the dream of finally owning something of their own.
But at some point, Antigua and Barbuda must confront a difficult reality: we are rapidly consuming a finite resource as if it is endless.
Our twin-island state has only a limited amount of land. Yet the dominant model continues to be the same — one family, one house, one plot. Entire communities are being carved into thousands of small lots, roads are expanding deeper into undeveloped areas, and governments continue opening up more acreage for residential sales as though land scarcity is not already looming over us.
This approach may have worked decades ago when the population was smaller, land was cheaper and development pressures were lower. But today, the math no longer makes sense.
Every new subdivision requires roads, electricity, water lines, drainage, schools, transportation access and other infrastructure. Sprawling development is expensive for taxpayers and environmentally destructive for a small island already vulnerable to climate change, flooding and water scarcity.
More importantly, it is unsustainable.
How much land will remain in another 30 or 40 years if every generation repeats the same pattern? What happens when agricultural land disappears? What happens when green space vanishes? What happens when young people eventually cannot afford land because supply has been exhausted or concentrated in private hands?
Antigua and Barbuda must begin seriously exploring higher-density housing solutions.
The future cannot simply be endless subdivisions stretching farther into the countryside. The future must include apartment buildings, townhouses, condominiums and, yes, even properly planned high-rise residential developments in suitable urban areas.
For too long, many Caribbean societies have treated apartment living as somehow inferior to detached homes. But across the world, densely populated and highly developed countries have already accepted that vertical living is necessary when land is limited.
A well-designed apartment or condominium can provide affordable housing while preserving large amounts of land. Shared infrastructure is more efficient. Public transportation becomes easier to support. Utilities become cheaper to extend. More people can live closer to jobs, schools and services instead of expanding urban sprawl indefinitely.
This is not an argument against homeownership. It is an argument for sustainability and realism.
The dream of owning a home should not become the nightmare of exhausting an island’s land supply.
Antigua and Barbuda is a small state. Small states cannot afford large-country land policies forever.
The conversation may be uncomfortable, but it is necessary.
Because if we continue consuming land at the current pace without changing how we build, future generations may inherit an island where land ownership is no longer attainable at all.
Marcus Jeffers
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Very thought provoking!