Housing Minister Ashfield DeVent deserves credit for at long last putting a meaningful public housing programme on the table.

Last year, the Minister gave a fine impression during the Budget Debate of a man who had just had a bomb thrown into his hands and was desperately running around trying to find somewhere to throw it.

In the last 12 months, he has clearly been busy, both restoring the credibility of the Housing Corporation and getting plans on the table ? and cement on block ? for affordable housing.

That made his life easier than it was a year ago when the best he could do was claim the housing plan was ?in his head? and that Bermuda needed a ?holistic? plan.

So Mr. DeVent deserves a good deal of credit for turning around the dire situation he inherited.

However, he would be the first to admit that he has had some help. The appointment of former Housing Minister David Burch as deputy chairman of the Housing Corporation meant that there was someone the Minister could rely on who had been there before. And the appointment of Sen. Raymond Tannock, who has been tasked with future planning, will also help.

That is no shame on Mr. DeVent, since one person would be sorely tested just dealing with the other time bomb ? the senior secondary school ? that he inherited when Premier Alex Scott dropped the Works and Housing portfolios in his lap.

Having said that, nothing will excuse the shameful inactivity on housing that characterised the Government?s first term.

And Shadow Housing Minister Wayne Furbert was right to warn that promises are one thing and action is quite another. Past Housing Ministers have built castles in the clouds in the House of Assembly that have never seen the light of day.

It looks like this time it could be different, if only because some of the plans are working their way through the Development Applications Board and in other cases, construction is already underway. Based on the budgets Mr. DeVent announced in the House, much of the work is being done for prices that are fair, given the high cost of local construction. That is a marked change from earlier administrations, when what little work was done was completed at exorbitant cost.

Mr. DeVent has stated that some of the work that is planned will be privately financed. High local rates of inflation and strong local economic growth all suggest that there is a good deal of cash now floating around in Bermuda. Much of it is being put into investment properties, which helps to contribute to the high cost of real estate.

Rather than financing future work through local institutions, the BHC should consider floating a bond offering a slightly higher rate of interest than that available from lending institutions. This could then be sunk into affordable housing which would help to both ease the housing shortage and cool down the private housing market.

Mr. DeVent rightly said the days of the Bermuda cottage in its own garden are over and that the Island must look at more high rise buildings to meet housing needs. Having admitted that, it is disappointing that the Minister has not taken up the Opposition idea of providing zonings and tax rebates to make that concept a reality. However, it?s not too late, and Mr. DeVent could get his wish of stopping media and Opposition carping if he were to take these two ideas ? the bond and zoning changes ? up.