Continued from Thursday's newspaper.

Sen. Alf Oughton (Ind.) agreed with Sen. Pitman that the BHC was the "social conscience'' of Bermuda.

And he called the 33-percent decrease in BHC mortgages that are in arrears "a very positive move.'' But, Sen. Oughton said in his brief address to Senate, he did not agree with the corporation's rental rates being brought up to market value.

And he wondered why the public has not been better informed of the housing units that BHC has previously put up for sale.

"I have never, for example, seen an advertisement in the paper for any of these houses.'' Sen. Norma Astwood (Ind.) also complimented the "role and work'' of the Housing Corporation, but she pointed out too that it was a unique entity in Bermuda.

"I think it's important,'' she said, "to remember that the BHC is a quango, and as a quango, is not responsible to Government's departmental methods of operation.'' Even so, Sen. Astwood said, the BHC will assume many Government-like responsibilities as "our population increases'' and the number of elderly and other special-needs tenants goes up.

"For the next decade or so,'' Sen. Astwood said, "we'll see such a shift in our population that the current facilities, including the extended care unit at the hospital and even our rest homes, will not be able to provide a suitable lifestyle for many of their users. Consequently, we must have a greater communication between the BHC and Government or the BHC will fall behind.'' Sen. Neletha (Honey) Butterfield (PLP) started her address by focussing on the needs of present-day residents.

"Clearly,'' she said, "there is enough housing for people on the Island, so why are there homeless here? Is it because there is no flexibility in the way (BHC clients) must pay? Or is it because they can't afford to pay the rent and have fallen behind?'' At the same time, Sen. Butterfield said that "we have to think wisely in Bermuda to gain some affordable housing'' for future generations.

In particular, she decried the Government's refusal to consider the abandoned US Base housing as a source of housing for Bermudians.

"Space,'' she said, "is available. And if it was good enough for American citizens, it should be good enough for us.'' While she, too, congratulated the BHC for the service it provides, especially to single mothers, Sen. Yvette Swan (UBP) answered Sen. Butterfield's criticism by countering that the Base housing was indeed been proven inadequate.

"I don't know which houses are being referred to,'' she said, "but if it's the timber-frame houses on St. David's Road, I can say with some certainty that these houses have been checked by specialists and found to be sub-standard.'' The senator added: "If you'll recall, some American families had to be evacuated (from US Base housing) during heavy winter storms.'' In response to further PLP criticisms, Sen. Swan said that the comparatively low number of BHC rental units was a result of the corporation encouraging home ownership.

And she noted, in answer to a previous concern that some 2,000 vacant houses were going unused in Bermuda, that the BHC could only take advantage of those units if landlords made them available.

"Unless the landlords,'' Sen. Swan told the Senate, "contact the BHC about their availability or express their willingness to have them rented out, they are really of no help to the Housing Corporation.'' Reiterating Sen. Swan's call for landlords to come forward, Opposition Senate Leader Sen. Milton Scott also hoped that property owners would "give the (BHC's) Public Sector Rental Programme a call and a try,'' thereby becoming their "brothers' keepers.'' But the senator rejected his colleague's characterisation of the Base housing as sub-standard, saying: "I would move into one, and that is an important test.'' On the corporation's overall mandate, Sen. Scott restressed the PLP belief that BHC activities needed more focussing, and suggested a "needs analysis.'' "Perhaps,'' the Senate Opposition Leader added, "(the BHC) needs to develop a new mission statement.'' According to Government Senate Leader Sen. Lynda Milligan-Whyte , the BHC has done a great deal to improve the housing lot of Bermudians since its establishment 21 years ago.

Pointing to examples like the 67 mortgages that the BHC has put in place and the 320 rental units that are currently in its stock, Sen. Milligan-Whyte said: "What has the BHC accomplished? Looking at their goals of establishing affordable housing for Bermudians, they have succeeded to a great degree, and I am impressed.'' In any case, the senator said, the BHC is not "a social agency that is designed to lock Bermudians into a perpetual low-income lifestyle.'' "We have looked,'' she said, "at the experience of other countries, and their type of social assistance has taken away the self-respect of people in many cases.'' Sen. Milligan-Whyte said she would like to see work programmes to keep people off the streets.

It was not good enough just to find a place for such people to put their heads down for the night, she added.

Concluding the debate, Sen. Milligan-Whyte turned to the Bermuda Housing Corporation.

She said the housing corporation's rents were "significantly'' below the market rates.