tenants in a 55-minute speech aimed at fighting proposed rent increases.

He claimed Government "did not care'' about tenants and singled out Works and Engineering Minister C.V. (Jim) Woolridge for special criticism.

Mr. Morton claimed Mr. Woolridge dismissed the tenants' claims when they were sitting in the public gallery earlier in the day.

But an angry Mr. Woolridge stood and asked Acting Speaker John Barritt to demand a retraction.

The Minister said: "He said I referred to people in the gallery using certain derogatory terms. I made no comment like that whatsoever.

"I did say he (Stanley Morton) was wasting our time because he's denying everybody else the opportunity to speak.'' The Acting Speaker said Mr. Woolridge was claiming he had been "misunderstood''.

But Mr. Morton did not back down and said: "The only person who is misunderstanding people is the honourable member (Jim Woolridge).

"It's nothing new for a member to stand up and cry foul, foul. I'm hoping we will see a change in Government and we will show them how to put people first and foremost in this country.'' Shadow Minister of the Environment and Natural Resources Leon (Jimmy) Williams said the subject of affordable housing was a "matter of urgency'' but admitted that the Island had come a long way in housing from the days of wooden shacks and outhouses.

However he asked: "Why is housing so expensive that people complain they can not meet the rent?'' And he turned to Southside and said: "People are looking for affordable housing but over on the base lands they see those lovely cottages standing there. This makes things worse.'' Mr. Williams called for programmes to alleviate the problem which, he added, should not exist in 1998.

Minister of Works, Engineering and Housing C.V. (Jim) Woolridge slammed Mr.

Morton's earlier accusation that he had used derogatory terms to address people in the gallery.

"At no time,'' he exclaimed, "have I ever used derogatory terms to address individuals in this Country or anywhere else.'' And he claimed Mr. Morton's motion had no place being debated in the House because Government had not changed its policy in relation to housing.

No one had been evicted from their homes because he had frozen proposed rent increases while the situation was investigated, pointed out Mr. Woolridge.

He noted that members of the PLP had suggested that Government encourage people to own their own houses.

And he pointed out that the Bermuda Housing Corporation had a facility in place which enabled people to buy a home for 15 percent down with a mortgage of 85 percent, payable over 15 to 20 years.

There used to be 315 places being rented, he continued, but now there were only 275 because people were buying their own homes. "The plan is working real well.'' Mr. Woolridge admitted that the housing problem was a very complex situation that Government and the BHC were trying to come to grips with.

But to say Government was doing nothing was a gross understatement, he added.

Mr. Morton was just trying to be sensational with his motion, he said. "Some of the irresponsible comments made here today are totally unfounded.'' PLP backbencher Ottiwell Simmons said housing was one of man's basic needs.

"There is no affordable housing in Bermuda, but Bermuda is the wealthiest Country in the world and yet people can not afford to house themselves.'' He accused international companies of driving rents up and making them very expensive for people with low incomes.

And these people were the ones who might want to buy their own home yet were unable to afford one.

He called for a means test to determine affordable rents for tenants. They could then be charged rents they could pay instead of rents that were too high and which required them to seek financial assistance.

Minister of Youth Development, Sports, Parks and Recreation Tim Smith said the solution to the housing problem was not building homes as it had been in years past.

The solution had changed since then, he said, because of complex issues involving mortgages, income, construction costs and where homes could be built.

The problem required study and situational analysis to see where Bermuda was today. The solution had to be long term, he added.

Shadow Tourism Minister David Allen said the problem of affordable housing had been around for the 30 years the UBP was in Government. People were still falling by the wayside, he claimed.

Some families were spending up to 75 percent of their income on housing and this was bound to impact on the fabric of family life. He pointed out that there were other households where adults were working two to three jobs, day and night, in order to make ends meet.

This meant any children in the home were left unsupervised, increasing the chance that they might get into some form of trouble.

If the cost of housing was brought down, it might mean that one of the parents could stay at home, he said.

He suggested giving private developers tax breaks to encourage them to build affordable housing and recommended offering 30 year mortgages.

Mr. Allen also pointed at the 200 units at Southside and said this was a blot on the UBP record.

Some of them had been made available to foreign workers at the airport, he claimed, but were never made available to Bermudians.

"Why are they not ready for Bermudians?'' he asked. "It is an obscenity to have those houses locked up on the Base two years after the US military departed.'' Devonshire South MP John Barritt (UBP) said Government was encouraging home ownership because it felt people would be better off if they had more control of their own destiny.

And he said he did not disagree with the need for more affordable housing but noted the problem was how to achieve this.

He said putting homes on the market at affordable rents -- for instance at 25 percent of the household income -- created its own problems as the projects in New York City had proved.

In fact this idea created a whole underclass where crime and violence were rampant.

However owning one's own home encouraged people to want to do even better.

The rental situation had its own challenges. People unable to meet high rents did not want to go "cap in hand'' for financial assistance, he noted.

The UBP's Erwin Adderley urged Government not to "create ghettos'' by under-valuing rents.

"We don't want to create this stigma,'' he said. "But we will find the proper solution.'' Deputy Opposition Leader Eugene Cox said more derelict housing should be converted to provide affordable accommodation. He added: "If Government drew up a plan with derelict houses in mind, we could probably help to solve this problem of housing and affordable housing.

"We have had too many real estate agents in this House who didn't want Government to touch real estate because they were making big bucks out of it.'' Former PLP leader Lois Browne-Evans turned on Housing Minister C.V. (Jim) Woolridge , claiming he was not in touch with poor Bermudians.

"The Minister who tells us about his rags to riches story never seems to understand the plight of the poor people in this country,'' she said, adding that some homeless people were even sleeping in the pump room behind her legal chambers.'' Home Affairs Minister Quinton Edness defended his party and Mr. Woolridge, claiming: "We do care!'' He added: "Most people up here in the House are sincerely up here to try to improve life for the people of this country.

"It's true that we have a housing problem. It's complex. But when we see people hurting, we hurt too.'' Opposition Leader Jennifer Smith accused some senior UBP figures of "bad behaviour'' when Mr. Morton opened the motion.

And she added that normal Bermudian families could no longer afford typical rents on the Island.