Plans to sell off houses at the old US Naval Air Station will not help solve housing problems for lower-income families, Shadow Health and Family Services Minister Renee Webb claimed yesterday.

Ms Webb said the 54 homes at what is now known as Southside had price tags pitched too high for the people most in need.

And she added that Health and Family Services Minister Wayne Furbert should listen to "the affordable housing cries of low income families, many of whom are under-housed or homeless, and which are not being heeded by the UBP Government.'' Ms Webb added that old US Navy houses at the gates to Southside should be pressed into service as emergency homes until a permanent solution is found.

Government has already ruled out using the Navy quarters because they were deemed to be sub-standard. But Ms Webb said: "We do not accept that these houses were good enough for US government personnel but not good enough for Bermudians.'' She said that the Southside homes due to be put up for grabs would range in monthly mortgage repayments from $2000-plus to $3000-plus -- if the proposed 95 percent loan terms over 20 to 25 years are stuck to. But Ms Webb added: "This is clearly out of the reach of these families looking for affordable housing.'' And she claimed the sale price of the homes had been increased by ten to 20 percent since Mr. Furbert announced details of the deal "less than a month ago.'' The 54 Southside houses will be sold by the Bermuda Land Development Company through a lottery of qualified applicants because demand has been so high.