shows that the shortage of affordable housing continues to cause problems for the community.

Government has stated that one of its top priorities is to deal with the shortage and Housing Minister Nelson Bascome discussed several options when he first joined the Cabinet, although little has been heard since.

Rego Realtors' owner Buddy Rego said in yesterday's paper that high demand for a limited number of rental properties was continuing to drive prices up throughout the market.

To some extent, this is the price Bermuda pays for having a strong economy. It also reflects the change in the economy from one based on tourism to one which depends more and more on international business and financial services.

One of the problems with housing is that construction of new homes lags behind demand. Often, new homes become available too late to meet the increase in demand, and can sometimes lead to a surplus. Bermuda's lack of available land and high construction costs contribute to the problem.

How does a community solve the problem? Rent control could, in the short term, ease it. Rents would be held down and people would be able to afford to put a roof over their heads.

But in the long term, rent control acts as a disincentive to landlords and potential home buyers. If rents are held down, the landlord's incentive to maintain or improve a property is diminished. And the likelihood of a property owner building new homes is also low as there is little prospect of any kind of profit. Other landlords will withdraw properties from the market because "it is not worth it''.

To combat this problem, the former Government virtually abolished rent control and put a system of housing assistance in place instead. This means that people who could not afford existing rents are means tested and Government pays the balance between what the person is deemed to be able to afford and the market rent. This system has been criticised by some who argue that tenants should be charged the rent they can pay.

This would work in Government housing, where, as the PLP has argued, the subsidy is an "internal transaction''. But it would not work in the private sector where landlords would then lose. Nor would it do anything to solve the actual shortage of housing. Here Government has said it will make homes on the Baselands available as emergency housing.

In the meantime, the wheels of private enterprise are moving with plans in the works for new condominium developments. This could ease demand at the top end and in theory stabilise prices further down the market. Plans by the Bermuda Land Development Company to sell long leases for homes at Southside would also ease overall demand.

An increase in low cost housing stock would obviously ease demand for those most in need, but would have to be looked at carefully because of the risks to the environment through the loss of more land. Many realtors argue that easing restrictions on non-Bermudian purchases of properties would also ease pressure on rental prices while increasing local property values. But that again is a difficult emotional issue as many Bermudians would fear the loss of their "piece of the rock''.

There are no easy answers. But the Government needs to tell the community what stage it has reached in its planning and how it intends to meet the shortage.