Opposition MPs put forward plans for cutting building costs and putting up more homes in yesterday?s housing debate in Parliament.

UBP housing spokesman Wayne Furbert called for special development zones with incentives such as reductions in taxation on materials and relaxation on short-term work permits for workers.

Costs could also be curbed by getting future residents to put in sweat equity by working on their new homes, said Mr. Furbert (pictured).

He attacked Government for building very little at great cost and quoted the $450 a square foot paid for the South Shore, Warwick condominiums.

A Government bond to raise funds for housing investment was suggested by Mr. Furbert who noted the extra money in the economy from the Bank of Bermuda sale.

His party wants to build 100 homes within two years.

Proposals include:

Working with financial institutions to create a financial package for lower mortgage payments.

Encouraging multiple dwelling units in high density areas and liberalising height restrictions for special housing initiatives.

Reducing death tax.

Exploring new modular construction technology.

Using 25 acres of former Baselands at Tudor Hill, Southampton for affordable development.

Mr. Furbert questioned what had happened to promises made in 2002 for a multi-storey housing development on Union Street.

?Government was supposed to understand about affordable housing and get on with getting the work done.?

His colleague Maxwell Burgess called on Government and the Bermuda Industrial Union who owned the land to team up, with the union getting guaranteed rent before being given the property back at a fixed date.

Similar deals could be done with private sector owners of plots of land, suggested Mr. Burgess.

Mr. Furbert said the PLP was good at promising housing in an election year but he questioned what had happened to a ?major building programme? promised by former Housing Minister David Burch in 2003.

Now he noted Government was giving West End Development Corporation tenants a break in by-election week.

?It?s all for now.?

Government plans to buy homes from the private sector wouldn?t get far said Mr. Furbert who said the suitable homes would have been bought by now.

?The best thing to do is build some homes.?

Mr. Furbert said the private sector rental scheme which Housing Minister Ashfield DeVent had promised to expand been running for years but Government had added an average of just 15 new units every years since it started.

There were now around 163 homes in the scheme where landlords are guaranteed rents in exchange for lending their property to Government to manage.

He questioned whether Government was serious in its promise to seek resolution with the irate residents of Prospect after promising to put in 34 units there.

?There?s no compromise going to take place, this is a done deal.?

Mr. Furbert said money spent on repairs had soared between 1998 and 2001 ? the last year scandal-hit Bermuda Housing Corporation (BHC) have produced accounts.

And from being $1.5 million in the black in 1998, BHC was $3 million in the red four years later, noted Mr. Furbert.

He said in 2000 BHC had agreed to borrow $25 million from the Bank of Butterfield. ?What did the BHC spend these funds on? Did they use the whole $25 million??

Former Housing Minister Nelson Bascome said the UBP had built only 11 units between 1990 and 1998 and had added to the squeeze on affordable housing by selling off units.