A St. David's MP urged the Bermuda Land Development Company (BLDC) to house women instead of overseas construction workers.

St. David's MP Suzann Roberts-Holshouser responded to a story in The Royal Gazette that BDLC was planning on renovating an existing US Navy galley at No. 22 Tommy Fox Road into hostel accommodation for construction workers for future BLDC projects.

"It reeks of unacceptability," Mrs. Roberts-Holshouser said yesterday. "BLDC do have a responsibility to improve building forms for non-Bermudian workers, but I would like them to turn on more of a community mentality and improve the conditions of Bermudian women and children.

The Base Lands Development Company Limited Act 1996 states that by law, the General Purpose of the Company was to integrate the former US Base into the "social fabric" of Bermuda "in furtherance of the well-being of the present and future generations of Bermuda".

The MP said BLDC had strayed from that by ignoring Bermuda's social fabric.

She called the St. David's emergency housing complex a "roach motel" and said all of the single mothers in the facility would love to get the same "basic" accommodations as the construction workers.

"The standard of living conditions for women and children under the BLDC is a huge, monumental issue," she said. "They have only one floor it is infested with cockroaches. The other two floors are filled with junk.

"They are living in conditions I would not put anyone in," she said. "Money and time needs to be spent on individuals who pay their taxes. Invest in those who are here now."

The MP encouraged BLDC to build a new building for the families.

"They cannot continue to close their eyes on something they have on their back door," she said.

She added that the "temporary" emergency housing tended to last a long time in Bermuda.

"I implore them to take a look in their backyard first," she said. "For every room ad kitchen they build for construction workers, I would like to see one for a mother and child."

BLDC facilities manager Steven Tucker and BLDC spokesman Richard Calderon could not be reached for comment yesterday.