A radical plan allowing tenants to build up equity in their Government homes while they are still renting them will be unveiled by the United Bermuda Party today.

Shadow Housing Minister Wayne Furbert said it would allow tenants to move gradually into owning their property as their finances improved.

He told said the concept, known as shared equity, had been used in the UK, Australia and the United States and will only work with Government-owned houses.

?It allows people to buy a share in a house. It may be 25 percent. That belongs to you.

?The other 75 percent belongs to a housing association like the Bermuda Housing Corporation.?

The 75 percent which belongs to BHC will be rented to the tenants. As time goes on and people?s income improve, they can buy more of the equity in the house until they fully own it.

?Your equity goes up, your rent goes down,? explained Mr. Furbert.

So instead of forking out the full asking price of $200,000, people will pay a mortgage on the $50,000 deposit and rent.

?Instead of paying rent of $2,000 a month, you will be paying $1,200,? he said. ?As you move on you can buy more shares ? at the price it was initially sold. The equity in the house is going up and you are able to buy at the initial price of the house.

?If you sell the share you only get back your 25 percent at the market price at that time.

?Hence you are allowing people with a household income of around $45,000 to get in. Over 25 to 30 years you are talking (of mortgages of) about $1,500-$1,600.

?That?s where we have to be looking. You lock in agreements that people who buy these units can?t sell for X amount of years and if you sell it, it goes back to the Corporation so they can pass it on to someone else.

?And if you sold it, it would be based on inflation over that period of time, not based on a market where you buy a house and tomorrow it?s gone up 30 percent.?

Owning a home is incredibly difficult now unless buyers have a good job and family able to lend deposit money, said Mr. Furbert.

But he said the UBP scheme, combined with strict financial controls on contractors to ensure units cost around $200,000 would bring new hope for those now priced out of the market.

And his party reaffirmed its commitment to helping young families, single mothers and the poor to get on the housing ladder by building cheap but smaller accommodation of less than 900 square feet.

?This allows people to get in on the home market. We are trying creative methods.

?We have to create new hope, which is created by people with creative ideas and not by people saying ?At $1.5 million I will never own a house.?

He said the North Hamilton area could benefit from the scheme.

?We are building hope so people can see where they are going and not where they left.?

?I think this will generate a lot of interest. We can force contractors to meet our costs. If they can up with creative ideas then we are willing to work with them.?

Mr. Furbert said the UBP was not willing to pay the $400-plus square foot costs which have been paid under the Progressive Labour Party.

He envisaged two 12 foot by 12 foot bedrooms, a bathroom of eight feet by five feet and a 12 by 20 living/dining room.

Contractors would be given tight budgets of about $175 per square foot, bringing in homes for around $200,000.

?People can comfortably afford a mortgage for that. But we have to build up. People have to realise a ranch style house on a three-acre property is not on.?

Mr. Furbert said the UBP was willing to change planning laws to deal with the housing crisis.

?Right now the law allows you 20 units per acre. We might have to change that, particularly in town,? he said. ?The City allows you six storeys. We might have to build seven or eight storeys. But you are building units which are affordable for the average person.?