Government is sitting on 30 acres of land which could be used for 600 homes according to Opposition Housing spokesman Wayne Furbert.

And he said the Progressive Labour Party had failed to bring forward any original housing plans other than one in Warwick which cost the country $450 a square foot.

Quoting the Bible, Mr. Furbert said in the House of Assembly on Friday: ?Where there is no vision the people perish.?

Mr. Furbert said Government was allowed to build 20 units per acre and the Bermuda Housing Corporation had 30 acres of vacant plots across the Island.

He identified:

Four acres at Caledonia on the corner of Cut Road and Redcoat Lane, St. George?s and three acres which were part of the ?bungalow? next to ?Arcadia?

Several acres of land between Slippery Hill, Sappers Lane and Garrison Lane which includes ?Sandhurst?, St. George?s

Around eight acres in Warwick opposite Long Bay and going back to almost Spice Hill Road

About eight acres of ?Aeolia? opposite the Tynes Bay incinerator in Devonshire.

And he said Government could obtain about 25 acres at Tudor Hill.

?That?s about 1,200 units,? he told the House of Assembly.

It wasn?t a lack of land but a lack of will which stopped housing being built said Mr. Furbert who attacked plans by Government to use the vacant 250 acres at Morgan?s Point.

?It?s easy to get a quick fix,? he said, claiming that that site in Southampton should be reserved for future projects.

?What about generations which come beyond us?,? the former Housing Minister argued.

He said statistics showed there were thousands of homes empty but he blamed the problem on affordability.

Selling condominiums to non-Bermudians was put forward by Mr. Furbert as a way of freeing up property and reducing competition for housing.

Encouraging builders to construct smaller units was also a way to ease the housing queues argued Mr. Furbert, who said the City of Hamilton had missed a golden opportunity to build high rise residential units.

He read out figures which showed Government had built between 187 houses and 253 houses every years since 1998.

Mr. Furbert attacked former Housing Minister Nelson Bascome for building homes costing $450 a square foot, which prompted Mr. Bascome to ask him about overspending on UBP projects such as Westgate, the incinerator and the airport.

Mr. Furbert responded: ?I don?t remember Scotland Yard investigating anything about Westgate and the airport.?

He began to probe the delayed report on the Bermuda Housing Corporation and the alleged corruption there but the Speaker of the house of Assembly, Stanley Lowe, warned him away, saying it was the subject of a criminal investigation. Community Affairs and Sports Minister Dale Butler said: ?Government has said it will have public access legislation. When that?s done these reports will be laid before the House.?

And Mr. Bascome said the annual report had not been laid because BHC was being investigated by the Police.

But Mr. Furbert said he didn?t understand why this had stopped the 2001 report from being released 18 months later.

Mr. Bascome said land mentioned by Mr. Furbert as being available was not zoned for housing. He said: ?If Government rezoned that property they would suddenly say we are losing our arable land and where?s all the woodland space.?

Mr. Bascome questioned why Mr. Furbert wouldn?t answer Randy Horton?s query on how many houses the UBP had built between 1995 and 1998.

With Bermuda?s land space filling up he said it was important to get Bermuda?s 2,000 empty homes in use, many of which were vacant following family disputes.

Former United Bermuda Party Housing Spokesman Michael Dunkley derided Government?s cursory mention of Bermuda?s housing need.

He said: ?There?s the beef? They want to instil trust they have to come better than five lines of mumbo jumbo.?

Referring to remarks made by Glenn Blakeney he said: ?All we hear from the Government back bench is the UBP is small houses.

?Well the UBP had people ringing up saying when are you going to build those houses.?

Opposition Home Affairs spokesman Maxwell Burgess said Government had been crystal clear about their plans for transport in the throne speech and people were looking for the same clarity on the number of houses to be build.

?If it?s two just stand up and say it?s two.?

He said getting mortgages was easier now but finding a house to buy was the hard part for new home owners who were getting increasingly frustrated.