Housing activist Rosemary Pedro has called for a change in how housing is allocated after a property sat empty for months.

Mrs. Pedro of the People's Coalition for Affordable Housing said she was told the apartment in Cutt's Road, St. George's, was still unoccupied because the Housing Corporation were having trouble contacting the new tenant.

The Cutt's Road property was spotted by Loretta Burgess who is currently sharing a room with her three children plus three others.

Last week she told The Royal Gazette that she was desperate to get her family properly housed.

She said: "It's just sitting there empty -- it's been like that for six months. It's very frustrating.'' Mrs. Pedro said Housing Corporation boss Raymonde Dill had told her last week that some tenants were reluctant to move at Christmas time.

She said: "I would think trying to find housing would be prioritised higher than Christmas.

"People should be prepared to move in at any time. They should move immediately.

"If they can't move in they should go back on the waiting list -- their needs can't be that urgent.

And Mrs. Pedro said the Corporation should have a second choice tenant when allocating housing. If their first choice dithered over the apartment then the second choice should be given the chance to move in to avoid houses sitting empty for long periods. Housing Minister Nelson Bascome said people's priorities had become skewed in modern Bermuda.

He said: "In the seventies people wanted housing. Now a lot of people want a car as a status symbol.

"We need to re-educate our young people about what priorities are. Bermuda is a very materialistic society.'' Mrs. Pedro also called for a housing census to find out how stock was used. "We need to find out how many people rent and how many people own housing.

She said the information would help identify empty properties which could be rented out.

She said: "The Bermuda Housing Corporation has a policy where if you come to them and ask for them to put a tenant in they will pay you the rent and then get the money from the tenant. I think the scheme needs to be publicised a little more.'' Mr. Bascome said the census planned for next year would be an enormous help for his housing plans. He said: "That is going to help everything. You need to look at the total population, the number of houses, the number of people over here for international business so you can start to plan policies. You can create a social plan based on the number of people here.''