Shadow Minister for Housing, Kim Swan, has welcomed Government plans to provide emergency housing in the Gulfstream building but he also criticised the "last minute" initiative.

Housing Minister Senator David Burch last week announced that the Gulfstream complex will be renovated to offer 'transitional' and emergency housing to those in need.

The 83-room Southside building formerly housed US military personnel and must first be cleared of asbestos before being fitted with a new roof, windows, plus electrical and plumbing upgrades. It is scheduled to open in mid-September and will house people who lost their homes in the Leopard's Club fire, as well as the former Club Med squatters, currently living at the old Wyndham Resort in Southampton.

UBP Senator Swan said last night: "I would like to commend Housing Minister David Burch for making the Gulfstream building at Southside available for emergency housing. It is a positive step towards dealing with a housing crisis that unfortunately has accelerated under the PLP Government to become a permanent feature of Bermuda life. The Gulfstream building, once it is renovated for occupancy, will provide a solution to the many families who cannot afford the high cost of putting a roof over their heads.

"We are pleased that a more permanent temporary solution has been found for the families who opted to be moved from Club Med and those persons displaced because of the Leopard's Club fire."

However, Sen Swan said the initiative was "last minute".

"For nine years, and six different Ministers, the Government has presided over the emergence of a housing crisis. There has been a disastrous lack of overall vision, ad hoc planning and an obvious lack of commitment to meet the needs of people until now. The Gulfstream building is a case in point. It has been standing there as a housing option since the PLP came to power. Yet only now has it come into play."