Freeing up some of the 2,000 vacant properties on the Island and a pilot scheme to charge a flat rate of rent based on income have been revealed amongst a string of ideas aimed at solving Bermuda?s affordable housing problem.

And Housing Minister Sen. David Burch has admitted that in some areas the Government is a ?slum landlord? and must act to improve the quality of its housing stock as well as providing more affordable homes.

In an open public forum this week Sen. Burch outlined initiatives to educate families how they can help themselves by learning the skills of boosting their incomes and saving, and he urged Bermudians to play their part and accept that at some point new housing will need to be created in their neighbourhood.

He also predicted that in next year?s budget there will be $45 million set aside for housing ? almost twice as much as this year?s $25 million.

Speaking at the Leopard?s Club, Sen. Burch said: ?If we were to get the owners of the 2,000 units that lie vacant tonight in the country to rent them, then a significant portion of our problem would be solved.

?That?s probably not going to happen overnight. I have suggested to the Government that people who elect to keep property vacant should have to pay a premium to do so. That may sound a bit unfair but when you are in a crisis you have to come up with dramatic solutions.?

He spelt out what he viewed as the key areas, namely; availability, affordability, adequacy, suitability and education.

On affordability, he put forward what he termed an ?outside the box? solution and admitted it may take time to implement. He said it will be tested in the Government?s next housing project. It aims to restore dignity to families by setting a rent that is 25 percent of their real household income, disregarding any Government assistance they receive.

?That means you might have a complex with 20 units and each of those families is going to pay a different amount,? he said. In each case the rent would represent 25 percent of the household?s real income.

Sen. Burch argued that by doing so: ?You remove the potential for abuse of the Financial Assistance system. So you don?t have to worry about people who go to Financial Assistance and park the convertible around the corner so the staff don?t see it and take off their jewellery in the elevator ? those who are using Financial Assistance for what it not intended.?

And on sustainability he referred to homes having proper amenities.

?Some of the places we rent and we and Bermuda Housing Corporation own have not had the benefit of proper maintenance for a number of years and so they are sub-standard and, in some instances to be perfectly honest, we are slum landlords. We have within the Ministry decided we are going to allocate significant resources in this current budget to address the question of maintenance,? he said.

Sen. Burch added: ?The previous Minister found that every time he suggested something there was a march of people saying ?not in my backyard.?

?If there is a message it is that it will be coming to a neighbourhood near you. We all have to give a little to help the rest ? we are talking about helping other Bermudians.?

And he revealed plans to use as many of the vacant buildings in Southside as possible ? for offices and accommodation. ?There are several buildings that are structurally sound and if they are they are not going to be knocked down they are going to be fixed.

?In the case of the old hospital, it is structurally unsound and so it will be demolished shortly, but in the case of the building that is called Lilyfield that is opposite BLDC headquarters by Whites ? it is sound.

?It is not going to take a lot of money to renovate it.

?Every building in Southside is currently under review in terms of its structural integrity.?