“How Can a Church Contribute to Housing Trust?”: An MP Challenges NHT Loans to Churches After Melissa

• MP Everald Warmington questioned why the NHT offers reconstruction loans to churches
• NHT managing director Martin Miller said the help was limited and tied to hurricane damage, mainly church roofs
• Warmington said wealthy churches should give back instead of drawing on public funds
• The exchange took place at Parliament’s Public Administration and Appropriations Committee

A parliamentary committee meeting in January 2026 turned into a sharp debate over who the National Housing Trust is for. The Jamaica Observer reported that Everald Warmington, MP for St Catherine South Western, used a sitting of the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee to question why the NHT was extending concessional reconstruction loans to churches damaged by Hurricane Melissa.

His argument went back to the trust’s basic purpose: the NHT is funded by the contributions of workers and employers, and exists to help them into homes. “Can you provide evidence to this meeting that churches have been contributing to housing trust? How can a church contribute to housing trust?” he asked NHT managing director Martin Miller.

Miller explained that the NHT has long run institutional loans for bodies other than individuals that meet its financial requirements, and that special concessions were introduced for Hurricane Melissa relief. “One of the first things that was made clear is that there are certain contribution requirements that would be relaxed for the individual,” he said. According to the Observer, he described the church assistance as limited in scope and tied specifically to hurricane damage, particularly roof repairs to church buildings, and pointed to the social role churches play, especially in rural Jamaica.

Warmington was not persuaded, arguing that long-standing contributors were still waiting while churches found other routes to financing. He drew a line between the historic denominations and newer congregations: “I’m not talking about the established churches like the Baptist, Presbyterian, Anglican, but you have some little hurry-come-up church.” He added that “churches that have more than $2 billion in their account, it’s time for them to give back,” and said churches should lead community support rather than dip into the Government pool to rebuild.

For NHT contributors at home and abroad, the exchange raises a fair question about how a housing fund built on payroll deductions should be used in a national emergency. For churches, it is a reminder that public money, even in loan form, brings public scrutiny. Congregations planning to rebuild after Melissa may want to be clear about their own reserves, insurance and titles before they apply for help, and to be ready to explain how that help also serves the members who lost their roofs.

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