Senators spar over NHT withdrawals

OPPOSITION Senator Lambert Brown has argued that if the Government is determined to continue withdrawing billions from the National Housing Trust (NHT), then at least $4 billion a year should be used to build homes for Hurricane Melissa victims in western Jamaica.

That suggestion was made during Friday’s debate in the Senate on the National Housing Trust (Amendment) (Special Provisions) Act, 2026, which was subsequently passed without amendment, extending the Government’s authority to transfer up to $11.4 billion annually from the NHT to the Consolidated Fund for another five years.

But Brown’s idea was dismissed by Leader of Government Business in the Senate Kamina Johnson Smith as she argued that earmarking a portion of the funds for housing construction would not solve the problem of insufficient housing solutions.

According to Johnson Smith, Jamaica’s housing challenges are not primarily caused by a lack of funding but by deeper structural constraints including limited construction capacity, contractor shortages, land titling issues, and planning hurdles.

She also maintained that directing a portion of the annual drawdown from the NHT specifically towards housing construction would not resolve the bottlenecks slowing the delivery of affordable homes.

Brown had urged the Government to use a portion of those funds to assist residents in St Elizabeth, Westmoreland, Hanover and St James who are still struggling to recover from Hurricane Melissa.

“So President, I am proposing to the Government that you take $4 billion of this $11.4 [billion] each year, and dedicate it to building houses for the victims of the hurricane in western Jamaica,” said Brown.

JOHNSON SMITH… housing challenges are not primarily caused by a lack of funding but by deeper structural constraints

He argued that too many affected families remain in difficult conditions months after the Category 5 storm which ravaged sections of Jamaica last October.

Earlier in the debate, Opposition Senator Floyd Morris also criticised the continued withdrawal of NHT funds, describing it as a continuous plundering of resources intended to help contributors access affordable housing.

Morris, the Opposition spokesman on housing, argued that the Government has removed $114 billion from the Trust since 2016 and is now seeking approval to withdraw a further $57 billion over the next five years.

He suggested that if the Government insists it needs to continue withdrawing funds from the NHT, the legislation should be amended to limit the transfers to two years rather than five, with the money directed towards providing housing assistance for Jamaicans whose homes were destroyed or damaged by Hurricane Melissa.

But Johnson Smith defended the measure, insisting that the transfers would not weaken the NHT or undermine its ability to deliver housing solutions.

“We are committed to making sure that we build back better, and what that requires of us is not a scatter shot approach where you do whatever you can in whatever little space immediately and think that you are helping someone for the long term. Tarpaulins are a part of a process and a path, they offer some protection, but no one is here on this side saying that they are the end of a process,” said Johnson Smith.