Senate approves $57B NHT drawdown for budget support

The Senate yesterday approved the amendments to the National Housing Trust (NHT) Act paving the way for the Government to withdraw $11.4 billion annually from the NHT over the next five years to support the Budget. 

The Government used its majority in the Senate to pass the proposed statute with 10 votes in favour, while the eight Opposition members voted against it. Two lawmakers were absent. 

Pointing to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Jamaica’s economy and the current unstable geopolitical climate, government Senator Keith Duncan said the decision is a pragmatic one, arguing that the NHT is finally stable enough to absorb the withdrawals. 

He noted that since 2013, total NHT contributions have more than tripled from $21.4 billion to $71 billion in 2025-2026. Additionally, he said since 2013, the NHT has made an average annual surplus of around $18 billion and projects a further surplus of $14 billion for the current fiscal year.

He said the NHT’s accumulated surplus stood at $185 billion at the end of the 2025-26 financial year and is projected to rise to $190 billion in 2026-27, arguing that the NHT’s continues to generate substantial surpluses despite the annual $11.4 billion withdrawal. 

“These withdrawals have not affected the capacity of the NHT to deliver housing solutions, and year on year, it continues to increase its capital expenditures, housing expenditures, disbursement of mortgages to low-income earners and others. Therefore, M. President, the NHT is delivering on its mandate while staying financially strong and sound,” he said. 

He further argued that it is not uncommon for public body reserves to be used to support central government fiscal accounts where it acts as a ready source of cash to address shortfalls without the need to issue new debt or immediately raise taxes.

But opposition Senator Cleveland Tomlinson argued that the NHT’s 2023-2024 audited financial statement revealed that the central government owed the agency a significant sum. 

“What we have identified here is not only is the central government extracting $11.4 billion from the NHT for central budgetary support, it also owed the NHT $7.8 billion in 2024, and $7.5 billion in 2023, and this looks like a figure that has just been sitting on the balance sheet … . We have to take into account the cost that the NHT has to face,” he said. 

He further pointed out that the NHT financial statements showed that the agency has total assets of approximately $378 billion in 2024, of which only $36 billion was classified as liquid assets. 

“When I look at the liquidity of the NHT, I am not sure it is so significant,” he said. 

Meanwhile, opposition Senator Professor Floyd Morris, the spokesman on housing, recommended that the drawdown be for two years instead of five, but this was rejected. He also argued for a portion of the funds to be used for the rebuilding of homes for Jamaicans in western Jamaica who are still struggling after Hurricane Melissa. 

“What we are proposing is that we amend this legislation to allow for two years, and in those two years, the monies that are earmarked go specifically towards providing houses to the people in Westmoreland, in St Elizabeth, in Hanover and St James who need this service,” he said. 

It was a suggestion supported by colleague Senator Lambert Brown. 

“The people of Jamaica are in need of help, seven months after Melissa. The people are in need of help almost two years after Beryl,” he said. “My plea today is for the Government to do much, much more for the people who are suffering in the western part of the country after Melissa.”

He added that $4 billion of the funds should be earmarked for this purpose – affordable housing. 

However, Leader of Government Business in the Senate, Senator Kamina Johnson Smith, noted that the Government is taking a systematic approach to rebuilding efforts, arguing that there are several systematic and structural issues that constrain the development of housing and affordable housing. 

“The issue is not money … . It is the existence of enterprise contractors, it is the ability to title and plan land, it is the ability to plan changing land use and titling where you have to relocate entire towns and municipalities. These are not small things to be done, Mr President, and if your best most large-scale attempt at providing affordable housing is Operation PRIDE, you are the last people we are going to for advice.” 

She maintained that the withdrawal from the NHT will not harm the agency financially nor institutionally, and further, “the transfers cannot be converted in the short term into closing the affordable housing gap, and thirdly, the constraints which exist are other than cash based. And even simply increasing loans only drive up prices which marginalises the very people who you want to have access to affordable housing.” 

Meanwhile, government Senator Christian Tavares-Finson contended that a “reasonable government should be allowed to deploy a portion of national resources to protect the economic stability of the country and advance the welfare of all Jamaicans. However, he cautioned against the NHT becoming a recurring source of budgetary support. 

“While the Government may find it necessary to utilise the NHT resources at this time, it must simultaneously commit itself to ensure that such drawdowns do not become a permanent feature of public finance management,” he said. 

The act was piloted by Minister of Finance Fayval Williams, and was passed in the House of Representatives on May 19.

sashana.small@gleanerjm.com