Government needs to provide up to 75 affordable homes a year for the next decade to tackle rising housing costs which are crippling cash-strapped families, it was claimed yesterday.

Salvation Army boss Major Doug Lewis said increasing numbers of people are turning to the charity for accommodation because they cannot keep up with Bermuda’s spiralling housing prices.

He said the only way to solve the problem would be for Government to dramatically step up the amount of lower-priced housing projects on its agenda.

Yesterday, The Royal Gazette revealed how, as a result of rent rises, 34 percent of families’ spending went on housing in 2005 — nearly double the US figure of 18 percent.

Now it has emerged that the corresponding figure in the UK is around just 10 percent, according to a recent report.

Although a UK National Statistics spokesman said its figures were calculated differently to those in Bermuda, he said it would be safe to assume British families were spending a much lower proportion of their cash on rent.

Major Lewis called for Government to break the trend by increasing the supply of affordable homes to meet the growing demand.

“For the amount spent on housing, anything above 25 percent is getting to be a stretch for people. When it gets as high as 34 percent, we have a lot of people who can’t afford that.

“It’s about supply and demand. If people pay the high prices, they will continue to keep the prices high. If you speak to Government, they will give you examples of places being built, but it’s nowhere near enough and we need much more.

“If we could put up 50 to 75 homes a year over a period of time — maybe over a decade — then it would make a difference. I believe if we don’t do something, the situation would get worse.”

Major Lewis estimated there were up to 300 homeless people in Bermuda and that emergency facilities such as the Salvation Army were full to capacity.

“If people can’t afford to pay the rent, what are they left with?” he said. “They turn to us or whatever else they can find — an empty building, an abandoned vehicle, a cave. It’s horrible.

“We are constantly full, that’s the problem. If someone comes to us, we have to try to refer them to someone else — but everyone is in the same boat.”

Bermuda College economist Craig Simmons said the large proportion being spent on housing would have a knock-on effect on the economy. “From a consumer’s perspective, it means there’s less to go on other goods and services. Spending on healthcare, health and beauty, food and everything — they have to take a bit of a punch.

“The other thing will be for people to have to work longer hours, and there are some social ramifications for that.

“Another possibility is for householders to economise on household space and have more people per square foot. This could lead to a divide being created between the well-off and the households headed by single parent families. Inequality is something that most societies try to avoid.”

According to Government’s Quarterly Bulletin of Statistics, the 34 percent of household cash spent on housing dwarfs the amount spent on education (4 percent), clothing (3 percent), healthcare (5 percent) and food and drink (14 percent).

New housing schemes completed in recent months include Anchorage Villa and Butterfield Lane, which brought a total of 28 units.

Projects underway or in the pipeline include the delayed 100-unit Harbour View Village lottery-winner project at Southside, the 38-unit Perimeter Lane development, the 54-unit Westcott Road project at Southside, the 24-unit Ewing Street mixed use development and the 100-unit affordable housing complex at Ireland Island.

This newspaper contacted Housing Minister David Burch for a comment twice yesterday — and also on Monday — but had not received any response by press time.