Housing Minister Ashfield DeVent has the wrong end of the stick when it comes to solving the affordable housing crisis, according to the United Bermuda Party's Wayne Furbert and ruling party supporter Rolfe Commissiong.

But Mr. DeVent insists Government is on track with an approach to housing which he says recognises the need to preserve open spaces.

Mr. Furbert, the Opposition's spokesman on housing, took issue with the Minister's comments this week that home ownership was key to solving the affordable housing crisis.

"What does that mean? Home ownership is something that we work towards but it's not the key to solving the housing shortage. We don't have a housing shortage, we have an affordable housing problem," Mr. Furbert said.

"You can have all the housing in the world and still have an affordable housing problem."

Families, single mothers and mothers with children all need housing, he continued. Yet the Progressive Labour Party Government had done little to alleviate the crisis throughout its first term in office.

"Without works, faith is dead. In other word, without any action the hope that people had in this government diminishes. Southside is a very good idea, but the lower-income people are still not going to be able to afford home ownership. There's still people who are going to be hurting who are crying out for housing."

He said his party would have built 100 units for rental first had it won the last General Election.

"What the Government needs to do is get on with building houses for those who need that type of attention."

And he agreed with Mr. DeVent's observation that there were high expectations when the PLP came into power, but said that enough time had passed for tangible results to be seen.

"The expectation was there ? overnight may be too short, but six years is definitely too long."

Mr. Furbert said that Government had made life worse for senior citizens by making it harder to qualify for housing allowance.

"Seniors will not be able to get assistance for housing after July next year if their asset base is greater than $5,000. Under the UBP policy it was based on income, not on your assets. So, if I have stocks in the Bank of Bermuda and maybe a little cash up to $5,000, I can't get assistance from that crowd. And they are talking about a social programme ? I'm asking them to fix what they have broken and work with the private sector to come up with some tax incentives to build high rise apartments."

Those comments were echoed by Mr. Commissiong who said that his solution would be to float a bond to finance the building of high-rise apartment blocks.

"To date he (Minister DeVent) has not come up with a solution to the affordable rental accommodation crisis in this community," Mr. Commissiong said.

"And in many ways that is a far larger problem right now than is the issue of home ownership."

Mr. Commissiong went on to say that the fact that a third of Bermudians are spending at least half of their monthly income on rent and that many expatriates earned more than a large segment of the local population meant that Bermuda had an affordable housing crisis.

"It's no secret that when the market goes so out of whack as they have there's only one institution that can begin to offer some balance and relief and that is the Government."

Mr. Commissiong pointed to Sir John Swan and Gilbert Lopes' high rise developments in Hamilton and said that Government should facilitate at least three such developments across the Island but make them available for rent for low and middle income people.

"We would need at least one in the west end, one or two in the middle part of the country and another in the east end to even begin to effectively deal with the housing market that's causing increasing misery to growing numbers of Bermudians," he said.

"What I'm saying is the initiative that's going to take place at Marginal Wharf is going to be in that vein, but it's not just Government doing it, it is being done in conjunction with the private sector," Mr. DeVent said.

Mr. Commissiong continued: "Fundamentally the first thing we need to do is establish a philosophy of government and understand what is government's role in a modern political economy. And holding on to some shop-worn, outdated, very conservative ? even right wing philosophy in terms of the role of government is not going to help us in achieving these objectives."

And he criticised Mr. DeVent for his observation that people took to the airwaves to vent their frustrations instead of getting involved in the political process.

"It's a little rich for a Minister of a party that benefited tremendously from the presence of his supporters and others who were fighting for a change in 1998, and utilised the talk shows successfully to make that change now has the temerity to castigate those who are on the talk shows exercising their democratic rights."

To which Mr. DeVent said that he was merely calling for people to join in the political process.

"As a former talk show host I understand the role of the talk show... If those who are in power are not constantly listening to the talk shows then you are crying in the wind. The next step is to get involved in the political process," Mr. DeVent said.

"Again it's the easiest thing in the world to stand on the outside and throw stones."

As to the charges of conservatism, the Minister said that the political reality was that Bermuda is a conservative society and Government had to be aware of that.

"Again it's the easiest thing to be a back seat driver. He's entitled to his opinion, but lets put it this way. I believe it's a pretty conservative society and the thought of making quick, rash changes just doesn't bode well in Bermuda. He should know with the experience of GPS and the taxi drivers. Even change for the good is sometimes slow to be embraced in Bermuda," he said.

"But I do not intend to get in a war of words with Mr. Commissiong. While he holds his opinions I am in the position of being in charge of creating results. I would question whether he too is one of those people who just believe things happen overnight. A successful country can only move as quickly as the less fortunate."

Mr. DeVent added the Bermuda Housing Corporation will continue to work for affordable rental units.

"But I will continue to maintain that those who are able should work and make every effort towards home ownership. The 200 houses that will come to the market at Southside are for sale and it is the intention that as many people who can should own," he said.

The BHC's recent advertisements for the sale of one bedroom units had generated a "huge response", he noted.

"This cry for just building more units is a simplistic look at the problem. As I have stated before there are approximately 2,000 empty units at the moment ? that's including units that are not rented and units that are derelict. We are slowly beginning to have some success with the derelict housing renovation programme and people must understand that in many cases we are attempting to renovate homes that have been sitting idle for a number of years for various reasons, so it's going to take time to get those properties back on the market."

He continued: "Those who cry for more building do not take into account the need to maintain open spaces. And to simply build high blocks of low cost housing units present social challenges in and of itself. Hence the new mindset being exercised at Southside where people of varying incomes will be housed together based on their ability to pay."

As for Mr. Furbert's criticism of the new criteria for applicants for housing allowance, Mr. DeVent said it was his understanding that seniors who find themselves over the $5,000 asset base will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.