For the first time in decades, people earning a combined income well below the national median will be able to purchase a home, according to a radical new plan announced yesterday.

The scheme, which was initiated by Sonesta hotel owner Clifford Schorer, would see 200 homes built at a 15.6-acre Southside site in two years time - with many of them being offered at prices starting as low as $195,000.

Under the plan - a joint Government-private sector initiative - 100 of the homes will be available at market rates, averaging $595,000, while the rest will be restricted for income-qualified buyers at prices starting at $195,000.

The lower priced homes will be indistinguishable from the market rate homes, but their resale values will be tightly restricted.

“We believe that home ownership is key to building strong families, a vibrant community and a stable country,” said Housing Minister Ashfield DeVent yesterday.

“And while we recognise that Bermudians must always have access to reasonable rental units, home ownership will always be our ultimate goal.”

At a total cost of some $80 million - $20 million of which has been pledged by the international business community - the two, three and four bedroom homes will be built by a new non-profit company called Bermuda Homes for People.

Surrounded by a number of his Cabinet colleagues including the Premier and the company's board members led by Mr. Schorer and John Gaston, Mr. DeVent unveiled the plan at a press conference.

“This new development at Southside will provide an opportunity for 200 responsible, hard-working, income-qualified families to own their own home at a price within their reach,” Mr. DeVent said.

“Bermudians have expectations of home ownership and we are convinced that this plan will help bring their dreams to reality and introduce an entirely new era for home development and home ownership in Bermuda.”

Ground will be broken on the project in January and completion is scheduled for April, 2006.

In a departure from the traditional model of securing bids from contractors, an executive management team will oversee construction to ensure that costs are kept to a minimum by cutting out private contractor profits, and keeping costs low, Mr. Schorer said.

“The way of handling construction on this project is unique in that we will not be using the services of a general contractor whose position will be to make a profit and an overhead on the project,” he said.

“We will be using a hired executive team on a salary who will be basically monitoring that construction at every point of the way to ensure we don't go over cost or time, because in affordable housing, cost and time are the death knell. So, it's very important that we keep control of the project.”

About a dozen small businesses will have to be relocated from the area. Mr. Schorer said he pioneered similar schemes in Massachusetts starting in 1994.

“In a very strong market, and in a very difficult market, which prices people out of home ownership, hardworking people are more and more disenfranchised from home ownership,” he said.

The current project has been over a year in the works, Mr. Schorer added.

He had originally planned to build affordable housing on part of the Sonesta Hotel property which is slated for redevelopment, but that scheme was scuppered because due to the site's tourism zoning.

“The social agenda that I personally had was not something that was appropriate on that tourism-zoned land,” he said.

The new development will be on waterfront property at Southside and will have its own dock and, potentially, a ferry route across the harbour to St. George's. It brings the total number of new homes to be built at Southside to around 300 - the Bermuda Land Development Company plans to add roughly another 100 residential units at Southside according to its latest business plan.

The Bermuda Housing Corporation's Vance Campbell said that details had not yet been worked out on qualifying income levels under the scheme and, while first time owners are the primary targets, it is uncertain whether people who already owned homes will be allowed to purchase units.

“The primary focus is for home ownership and occupation by the owners,” said Mr. Campbell. But he said that, in setting a qualifying income level, the quango would start at the national median - currently at just over $70,000 for all Bermudian household types - for the higher-priced market rate homes.

As with most housing projects involving Government land, the homes will be sold as 99-year leaseholds. Mr. DeVent has been dogged by relentless Opposition criticism that he had no housing plan in recent months.

Yesterday's news should have taken the sting out of those criticisms, but the Opposition Party yesterday reminded the public that the scheme comes after “six years of inaction” by Government. The Minister told the assembled press that the new initiative was but one component of his plan to house Bermudians.

“For several weeks the cry has been ‘Where is the plan? The Government has no plan'. Let me assure you here and now that there is definitely a plan,” the Minister said. “And, yes, it is a holistic plan that seeks to include participation from all stakeholders - Government, local and international businesses and the community at large.”

He added that the development was a pilot project and just one component of the overall housing plan. “We are grateful to good corporate citizens like Mr. Schorer and Mr. Gaston for working closely with Government on this plan that we believe holds the solution to helping us continue to address our housing issues,” Mr. DeVent continued. “I am confident that others will follow their important example of social conscience.”

Premier Alex Scott also praised the private sector partners as good corporate citizens. “Bermuda works best, we say, when it works together,” he said.

“The Minister has said, and has now demonstrated, that he is in search of a solution to the housing challenge by working with the private sector and using public methods and resources. This has all the earmarks of being a very, very successful approach to housing in Bermuda both now and into the future.”

He said Government saw it as a pilot scheme which could be replicated in other areas.

“And so, therefore it is 100, 200 today and it could be again the basis for housing a few hundred Bermudians in the future,” Mr. Scott said.