OPPOSITION Senate Leader Kim Swan has urged the Government "not to penalise people for fighting for what's right".

He was referring to Bermuda Housing Corporation (BHC) tenants in Anchorage Road, St. George's, who are bracing themselves for large rent increases that could force them to move out.

Government had last year announced plans to sell off the 16 units, after originally having started to renovate them for the tenants.

But the Government made a U-turn ? as revealed by Government Senator Reginald Burrows last week ? and decided not to sell the four buildings after all.

Sen. Burrows explained: "They will be made available for rent at rate reflective of the costs of renovations and the value of the completed units . . . The actual rent amount for each unit will not be determined until the completion of the project."

That has left many of the neighbourhood's long-standing tenants, who won their fight to stop the Government putting their homes up for sale, facing the prospect of being forced out by a rent hike they cannot afford ? the "sting in the tail", according to Sen. Swan.

"Last year, these same residents of Anchorage Road were being wooed by a Government that masqueraded as being caring and socially conscious," Sen. Swan said.

"Once the Government got back into power we saw a different side of them."

He said if the Government had stuck to its original plan of renovating the properties one by one, the project could have been completed by now.

"One of the properties had already been renovated and is empty," said Sen. Swan. "If the Government had continued with that project and played 'musical houses', it could all have been completed now without anyone having been displaced from their community.

"Now the people there have been further disadvantaged because of the delay, as the housing market has continued to rise and so will their rents when the renovation is done. And it is not their fault."

Sen. Swan, who has campaigned for the Anchorage Road tenants, said he would be watching closely for the rent hike.

"I want to put the Government on notice that I recognise the sting in the tail, so that they will be mindful of that," he said.

"They need to eliminate the vindictiveness and not penalise people for fighting for what's right."