For affordable housing advocates, Government?s Prospect solution creates a bit of a paradox ? having called for years for action on providing more affordable housing, they can?t bring themselves to support the controversial proposals.

?We won?t have a position on it because there?s not enough information either way,? said Corinne Tucker, spokesperson for the Coalition for Affordable Housing.

She said there had been no impact studies from Government and ?other than that it will bring more people to the area we don?t know what are the core objections to this?.

But she said residents should not fear that more renters will lower the quality of life in the neighbourhood.

?That?s a NIMBY (Not in My Backyard) thing again. We?ve had that over and over again. I was myself supposed to be one of those ghetto people in St. David?s. None of the housing that?s been provided over the last ten years or so is low income or affordable. The people who have been buying the latest houses ? we have two paycheque households paying these mortgages and ghettos don?t come with two paycheques,? she said.

?Are they calling doctors, lawyers and accountants, people who are going to come and lower the value of their properties? The spectrum of people who need housing are not just the homeless ? it?s across the board.?

One Prospect homeowner who opposes Government?s plans agreed to respond to the NIMBY charge on condition of anonymity.

?It?s not even a case of NIMBY ? we have no space, we have no backyard. We?ll have no sunlight and (Housing Minister Ashfield) DeVent said that?s the price we have to pay for affordable housing... the reason why we?re not compromising is that if we let one house they will build them all. It?s like building rabbit hutches...?

The Coalition was very vocal in the lead up to the 1998 General Election, which swept the United Bermuda Party (UBP) out of power, but has been oddly silent since.

Affordable housing, then as now, was the critical issue and a hot political potato ? and things were so desperate that the UBP Government once considered using empty schools for housing.

And months before the historic elections, they did what the current Government is proposing ? added more rental units at Prospect. The PLP?s first Housing Minister Nelson Bascome promised that those renters ? occupying 32 units ? would be moved out by August, 2000. The fact that they are still there has added more fuel to the fire of the current dispute.

Prospect homeowners are attempting to recruit Sheelagh Cooper, another affordable housing advocate.

Any attempt to resolve the crisis in affordable housing should be done ?that creates communities that are healthy ? anything short of that will only make the problem worse,? she said last night.

?This problem wasn?t created overnight and won?t be solved overnight but it certainly won?t be resolved unless all of us work together in a creative way. There?s no question we can do it and we have the resources to do it. And now we seem to have the political will to do it, but I do believe that this has to be dealt with in a non-partisan way. There?s nothing to be gained by politicising it. This is far bigger than either party.?