Winners of a lottery for affordable housing have expressed their disappointment at a lack of action by the Government two years on.

Housing Minister David Burch will tomorrow meet with the winners of the Harbour View Villas project at a meeting closed to the public — despite $10.5 million of public funds being used to subsidise the scheme.

The Southside project at St. David’s has been plagued with problems since its inception and has been scaled down from 196 homes to just 108 units.

Orchestrator of the scheme, Bermuda Homes for People (BHP), was declared technically insolvent in September, 2005. The same month, builder Bermuda Land Development Company - which owns the site - said it was uncertain whether it would continue with the project. But Housing Minister, Ashfield DeVent, said BLDC would continue “to conduct their due diligence”.

The plan was to construct 98 affordable homes plus 98 properties at market prices. The sale of the more expensive homes, at up to $1.1 million, would then help to fund construction of the cheaper properties.

However, the project was scaled back to 108 homes, resulting in huge financial repercussions, according to critics.

Last night, The Royal Gazette was unable to get a response from the Government as to the purpose of tomorrow’s meeting.

The 98 lottery winners however, are hoping to receive an update on the project’s progress. They say this is the first communication they have received from the Government in months, leading some to feel disheartened.

Sen. Burch meet with the winners in June last year to assure them that work was soon to start on construction. However they say they have heard nothing since. The original project completion date was April 7, 2007. On June 3, 2005, more than 300 people gathered at CedarBridge Academy to enter the draw for the chance to buy a home for just $199,000.

Rennard Russell and his wife Linda were the first winners that evening, but today they are still renting a house, almost two years later. Mr. Russell, a senior from Pembroke, said: “We’re disappointed as we feel we should be moving in now. They promised we could move in by my wife’s birthday on April 1 last year and it’s not happened.

“They haven’t even made a start. They’ve just given us the same promise, nothing further, but nothing has been done. It’s very poor. They’re calling a meeting but this is the first one in the space of a year.”

He said: “I’m not worried because we’ve not set our expectations too high this time, just because it’s been so disappointing so far. We will just hope for the best and keep our fingers crossed.”

Shadow Housing Minister Kim Swan accused the Government of failing in its promise to deliver more affordable housing in Bermuda. “The situation that the lottery winners have found themselves in has come about as one of the Government’s failed targets to deal with housing. The needs of affordable housing have not been adequately met,” said Mr. Swan.

“The timing of this meeting coincides with the need to make good that promise, and for the Government it is a political necessity as they need to quell concern on this before an election.”

The meeting takes place tomorrow at 6 p.m. at the New Testament Church of God Heritage Hall Worship Centre in Dundonald and Union Streets, Hamilton.

Southside lottery winners are still waiting