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.