Bermuda Housing Corporation suggest a new housing crisis is looming.

It seems likely that an expanding economy fuelled by the growth of international business will increasingly lead to a shortage of affordable housing, particularly for families.

High rents at the top of the market inevitably raise prices for middle income properties as well, while demand for single bedroom and studio apartments also appears to be on the rise.

Coupled with the shortage of land, this squeezes middle and lower class families who are seeking affordable rents.

This includes Government tenants as the Housing Corporation continues to pursue its intention of bringing Government rents up to the same level as the open market.

To the tenants this may seem unfair as most of the homes were built by the Housing Corporation in the early 1980s specifically as low cost housing.

But there is a difference between low cost housing and affordable housing.

Some years ago, Government introduced a system of housing assistance aimed at helping those people who could not pay rents demanded in the public and private sectors.

Now the Housing Corporation is taking the logical step of saying that people should pay according to their needs: if a person can afford the market rent demanded, then they should pay it and if not they can pay what they can afford and Government will help them with the rest.

Yet to the man on the street, this doesn't always make sense. After all, it can be argued, there's no difference between them paying a single low rent or paying the same amount of money with Government making up the difference to meet the market rent.

All that seems to be happening is that money is being taken out of one Government pocket and put into another.

In addition, the tenants say they do not want to become welfare dependent, a position with which most people can sympathise with. Nor should the Government provide people with a disincentive to increase their income because they fear losing part of their housing support.

Yet Government should not be placing people in the situation where a Government tenant is paying considerably less for a home than a person with an equivalent income in the private sector.

At the risk of encouraging the production of another expensive report which could be ignored, Government would be wise to commission a new study on local housing conditions and needs.

This would provide a basis for setting new policies on housing -- or defending the current ones -- and would help ensure that all Bermudians have adequate shelter.

In the meantime, Government and its tenants should keep talking until a settlement which is reasonable to all sides can be achieved.