THE board chairman of the National Housing Trust (NHT), as well as some members of parliament, have expressed “concern and unease” over a proposal to transfer responsibility for the Trust to the Ministry of Water and Housing.

The recommendation to remove the NHT from the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) was one of several contained in the Public Sector Master Rationalisation Plan contained in a green paper laid in Parliament recently for discussion.

The NHT was among 10 entities under the OPM that were recommended for transfer to the Ministry of Water and Housing, which it was suggested be renamed the Ministry of Housing and Sustainable Development.

The other entities are the Urban Development Corporation, National Land Agency, National Environment and Planning Agency, Meteorological Department, Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management, Real Estate Board, Environment Policy and Management, Land Policy and Administration, GIS Unit and LAMP, and the National Solid Waste Management Authority.

Appearing before the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee of Parliament at Gordon House in Kingston Wednesday, NHT Chairman Howard Mitchell said that “in terms of efficiency it is perhaps better to have the Trust standing alone than joined”.

Mitchell, who further proposed that the future restructuring of the Trust as a wholesale lending institution — which he said could result in greater benefit to the country and stimulate more private sector investment — said in the interim, the NHT should remain as one of the agencies entrusted to the care of the OPM.

Mitchell had the support of Opposition Member of Parliament Ronald Thwaites (Central Kingston), who said the Trust should remain where it is.

“For the life of me I don’t know what the role of the Ministry of Housing is. I know what the role of the NHT is. This is the largest accumulation of domestic savings towards housing solutions in the country and with all respect for the political directorate it is wise that it remain broadly constituted and directed as the original statute of the Housing Trust envisaged,” Thwaites told the committee.

“If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. What you need to do to ensure that its penetration is wider and more comprehensive,” added Thwaites.

He was, however, not in agreement with Mitchell on one issue.

“I am not sure that transforming it into a wholesale lending institution is going to improve either the availability of housing capital or the cost of the housing, and the cost is the final arbiter of its success.

“For now, leave it where it is and concentrate on enhancing its functions. The Housing Trust must not become part of a financial apparatus in Jamaica that is prepared to take the savings of poor people but never to lend it back to them,” he said further.

Another Opposition MP, Phillip Paulwell (East Kingston and Port Royal), said the “NHT was one of the success stories of government; we don’t want to tamper with it”.

Committee Member Fitz Jackson (Opposition, South St Catherine), however, said he was “uneasy that after 30 years the NHT remained under the umbrella of the OPM”.

NHT officials contended that the main impact of the proposed transfer of portfolio responsibility for the NHT would be created by the disparity between control and beneficial ownership, which they said could create a conflict of interest and potential for self-dealing by the minister of housing and by a board accountable to that minister.