Doubling the rent on Bermuda Housing Trust properties violates the purpose for which the BHT was set up, the United Bermuda Party charged yesterday.

Reacting to news that the BHT planned rent increases of 100 percent, UBP MP John Barritt said the Trust was set up to provide low cost housing for the elderly and to alleviate ?poverty, suffering and misfortune among the elderly?.

?Proposing 100 percent increases in rent runs contrary to the spirit, if not the letter of the law,? Mr. Barritt said.

?What the BHT is proposing won?t relieve poverty, suffering and misfortune ? it will add to it.?

Backed by Shadow Housing Minister Louise Jackson, Mr. Barritt said the residents of Purvis Park, one of several housing complexes owned by the Trust, were used to gradual rent increases.

?Having spoken with those seniors at Purvis Park, I am certain that they would accept that an increase is warranted. I could go further and say that they would accept larger increases than in the past, but not double in one fell swoop,? he said.

?It?s a big blow. It is too much to put on people who are living on fixed incomes. They are understandably distressed and upset about what?s proposed. I?ve spoken with them and in the words of one, ?it?s a lot of jump, Mr. Barritt?.?

He said the intention had always been to subsidise the homes when they were first created, and that the Trust had the power to raise funds.

?It was never intended or thought that money would be raised by doubling rents and squeezing our seniors,? Mr. Barritt continued.

He went on to demand that Trust accounts be made public on a regular basis.

?What they are doing shows disrespect, an insensitivity, frankly, to the circumstances in which our seniors are finding themselves in their golden years. They don?t need this stress ? and it is stressful, living on a fixed income and always facing price increases that are not matched by increases in pensions.?

Mrs. Jackson said residents of all BHT properties faced the same problem.

?Do they expect 80- and 90-year-olds to go out and get jobs to pay for this?? she asked.

?How would you feel if your rent doubled but your salary remained the same ??

She blamed ?mismanagement? at the Bermuda Housing Corporation for failing to ?maintain the vision of the Bermuda Housing Trust as a vehicle to provide affordable housing for our seniors? and said that the quango should have introduced a ?series of modest, gradual increases? to meet rising maintenance costs.

?In our golden years our people should expect compassion from their government instead of being terrorised.?

Trust Chairman Ronald Simmons said last week that new rents had not been set but had to be increased because the Trust was losing money.

He also pointed out that some 25 percent of seniors living at BHT properties had the means to live elsewhere.

And he said the Trust was flexible towards those who legitimately qualify as BHT tenants.

Rents at most of the 82 units on four properties have not increased since 1996, Mr. Simmons said ? a situation which ?shouldn?t have been allowed?.

The proposed rents were still half market price and would continue to represent ?significant savings? to tenants, Mr. Simmons said.

The Rent Commissioner?s office is assessing each unit to determine whether the proposed rents are fair.