ROD Ferguson, Jr. received a slew of telephone calls this week from people offering to help him after he made public through this newspaper his offer to take over the Bermuda Housing Trust (BHT).

A construction firm boss, a lawyer and two secretaries are among the people who called him to offer their services for a potential new BHT board.

But, as of yesterday, he had heard nothing from either the BHT or the Bermuda Housing Corporation, which works closely with the Trust.

The Trust, which was set up under an Act of Parliament in 1965 to provide low-cost housing for seniors, shocked its tenants with massive rent rises that came into effect at the start of this year.

Tenants we spoke with from the Trust's four housing developments were asked to pay between 23 and 120 per cent more.

Mr. Ferguson, whose father Roddy Ferguson ran the Trust for many years, believes he and a board willing to give their time and skills, could keep costs ? and rents ? down.

And he said he believed the Trust had drifted away from its core principles from the days of his father, who used to actively urge people to donate money, work and materials.

"I've had numerous calls to my home encouraging me to get involved," Mr. Ferguson said.

"Zane DeSilva, of Island Construction, who used to do some work for my father, was one of them. Another person with the right skills told me she would not mind being secretary. And a lawyer has also come forward, offering to help.

"We would like to try to arrange meetings with contractors and plumbers to try and persuade them to work for the Trust at a charity rate. Or maybe they could do ten hours' work for us over the year free of charge. There are many different ways people could help.

"At this point, nobody's going to give a penny to the Trust, because it's working under the BHC and so people believe there will be mismanagement and overspending."

Mr. Ferguson, chairman of hardware company Gorham's, said by using Gorham's channels he could get materials for the BHT such as doors, bath tubs and light fixtures, at cost price.

BHT chairman Ronald Simmons declined to comment.

Mr. DeSilva called Mr. Ferguson after reading last week about his offer to take over the Trust.

"I told him I'd be willing to help however I could," Mr. DeSilva said yesterday. "I worked with his father (Mr. Ferguson, Sr.) for 15 or 20 years and I used to do some jobs even below cost price.

"I'm not sure how the Trust is run at the moment, so it's difficult for me to comment on that. But I said to Rod that if he was able to set up a group for the Trust, then I would be happy to help and sit around a table with people and see what we could do to keep costs down."

He gave examples of some ways which he thought he might be able to help.

"I used to do landscaping for the Trust," Mr. DeSilva said. "Say that was costing $1,500 a month. I'd say, let's try and make it $1,000.

"If I went to a supplier for materials for a job for the Trust, I'd say, 'You charge $4 a square foot, can you do it for $3.50'?

"If the tenants are paying $300 and you know they can't afford a rise to $500, our goal would be to raise the extra money from somewhere else. The aim would always be to keep costs down as low as possible. It's not rocket science.

"I know Roddy's goal was to supply elderly people, who would always be struggling to make ends meet, with housing, and to do that by keeping costs down to an absolute minimum.

"He got a lot of joy from that, as I did. It gives you a feeling of self-satisfaction when you can help people in need.

"This is something that's close to my heart, because I'm getting older myself and I realise that not everyone's fortunate enough to have been able to plan their financial future."