Jamaica has always experienced a shortage of sufficient housing for its citizens. This has led to a major problem of  squatting on both government and private lands. Over the years many attempts have been made to address this problem but they have been met with only limited success. Apart from the historically unfair distribution of the land among the populace, the problem has been aggravated by violence and thuggery which has forced thousands of families to flee their dwellings and in many cases squat elsewhere.  Many of these dwellings have remained empty and abandoned in a state of disrepair while others have been taken over and are occupied by other persons. There is no simple solution to the problem of housing  shortage and any attempt must have a long term outlook and not the short term efforts that has been used so far. More townhouses and apartment complex must be constructed instead of single dwelling houses bearing in mind the layout of the community and available infrastructure. The rent act must be revised to make it as fair as possible to both the tenant and the landlord. Thousands of premises across the country are locked up as the owners have had very bad experiences with tenants or have the fear of such an experience. In the cooperate area it is quite common to see large houses locked up and in many cases left to rot. Effort must be made to  get these houses into the rental market. Many persons feel that the laws favour the tenants who in some cases remain in the premises for months without paying rent and eventually leave it in a state of total disrepair. Where efforts are made in the courts to remove bad tenants, the court case is usually drawn out with the tenants being given numerous extensions to leave. At the end, the premises are frequently left in a state of disrepair and often the landlord just lock up the premises. There is little recourse to collect compensation as to file a civil suit cost a lot and can take many years to get a judgement after which there is the problem of collecting payment. This will no longer be the case as these short comings in our court system will be addressed. A comprehensive study will be done to determine the best way to provide housing across the island  for persons of all income level.