ROD Ferguson, Jr. says his late father ? one of the founders of the Bermuda Housing Trust (BHT) ? would be "turning in his grave" if he could see the way the Trust's elderly tenants have been subjected to massive rent increases.

Now Mr. Ferguson has proposed that he, together with a group of trustees capable of offering relevant professional services for free, should take control of the BHT from its current Government-appointed board and from the Bermuda Housing Corporation (BHC). The BHC oversees the maintenance of Trust properties and compiles its accounts.

Mr. Ferguson, the 57-year-old chairman of hardware store Gorham's, said he believed the Trust had drifted away from its core principles and needed to move back to them in the interests of its senior citizen tenants.

Mr. Ferguson said he had called the BHC with his offer and had left messages, but had not received any response.

Last week the highlighted the cases of four tenants, one in each of the BHT's four developments around the island, who had been hit with rent increases between 23 and 120 per cent. One woman, who had a pension of $700 a month, had seen her rent rise to $800 a month.

The rent rises provoked a march on Parliament by pensioners last November and 37 appeals from tenants have been lodged with Rent Commissioner Eugene Foley.

The BHT was set up in 1965, financed by businessman William S. Purvis and administrated by chairman Roderick Ferguson, Sr., with a board of trustees.

The Trust was set up under the Bermuda Housing Trust Act 1965 as an organisation to "provide low-cost housing for the needy elderly". And, in the words of the Act, the Trust's function was to initiate "the relief of poverty, suffering and misfortune among elderly persons in Bermuda by the provision of accommodation for such persons on reasonable terms".

Mr. Ferguson, Jr. said the BHT had let down its tenants.

"My father would be turning in his grave if he could see this," Mr. Ferguson said.

"The BHC effectively took control of the Trust five or six years ago. And now they're looking into the income of each of the tenants and pushing them around like jelly beans."

Asked what he thought his father would have said, Mr. Ferguson said: "He would want to wrestle it back from the BHC.

"My father kept watch over the Trust's money as if it were his own. If there was work being done on site, he would go down at 5.30 a.m. to check on everything and then go back at 5.30 p.m., every day. He wanted to make certain that not a penny was wasted and everything was accounted for.

"He used to hire a handyman type of person, who could live in a single bedroom unit rent-free, if he took care of things like light bulbs that needed changing and leaking faucets. That kept maintenance costs down.

"My father would manage the waiting list and go out to raise money. He wouldn't take no for an answer. If someone didn't want to give him a cheque, he said they could donate in the form of work, like going down to do some painting at the weekend."

Mr. Ferguson, Sr. was awarded the title of Member of the British Empire (MBE) for his efforts and the Queen was in Bermuda to open Purvis Park, the third of the BHT developments. The others are Elizabeth Hills in Pembroke, Heydon Park in Somerset and Ferguson Park in St. David's.

"When he finally got too old to carry on the chairmanship, no one else knew much about how it had worked, because my father had done nearly everything himself," added Mr. Ferguson.

"He was very controlling, but everything he did was beneficial to Bermuda and in the interests of keeping the rents low for the tenants."

Mr. Ferguson, Jr. has never sat on the BHT board but believed by following the principles of his father and taking advantage of his position as chairman of Gorham's, he could improve things.

"I could bring in doors and hinges at cost price," Mr. Ferguson said. "I could even bring in prefab houses at cost.

"I would like to get together a representative bunch of people in the group of trustees with useful knowledge and skills. They would include a lawyer, a representative from Age Concern, a banker, a contractor and I'd also like to get Church ministers involved, as they know many of the problems of parishioners who may have fallen on hard times."

He said the Trust's aim had always been for rents to fund maintenance and repairs only. And money for new developments was expected to come from donations.

Housing Minister Ashfield DeVent said this week the rent increases were justified, citing an increase in maintenance costs since the last rent rise seven years ago.

"To continue without the rent increases would have placed the BHT in a position whereby its asset base would be eroded in order to carry out repairs, thereby jeopardising BHT's ability to provide future housing initiatives," Mr. DeVent said.

"The increased rent is still far below market rents for comparable units.

"I must point out that while the BHC is responsible for providing housing, it is also responsible for maintaining properties. We need the rents to maintain the houses and must make every effort to recoup and raise funds wherever we can."

BHC management did not return our call yesterday.