Mayor of Hamilton Lawson Mapp and a businessman have both backed the idea of high-rise living accommodation in the city to help solve the housing crisis.

Shadow Housing Minister Wayne Furbert said that the United Bermuda Party was prepared to accept seven- or eight-storey blocks in North Hamilton.

And the idea has found favour with Mr. Mapp, a former director of the Bermuda Housing Corporation. "This is a good idea. Government has recently pledged $11 million for cricket, yet we have people sleeping in their cars," said Mr. Mapp. "Right now, the idea of every young Bermudian having a cottage of their own seems out of the question and we have less and less land.

"Bermuda must be one of the most densely populated places in the world. That's why we need to put more and more people under one roof. One of the big problems we have is single female parents who are on their own with two or three children and doing seasonal work as chamber maids or waitresses.

"Some of them are not interested in taking out mortgages ? they just want decent places to bring up their families."

Mr. Mapp has recently stated his concern that developments such as the planned seven-storey Bank of Bermuda building on the former Trimingham Brothers Ltd department store site must be carefully designed to blend in with Hamilton's historic cityscape.

But he does not foresee a problem in building high-rise homes in the North of Hamilton because the city's sloping terrain means they would not be an eyesore. And although high-rise apartment developments in other areas of the world have gained a reputation as a magnet for crime and poverty, Mr. Mapp believes that this problem could be avoided in Bermuda.

"There is always the fear that they would become ghettos but obviously some social engineering would be done to ensure that there was a mix of people living in them," he said.

"When you build such a facility you would make sure the people living there had a job and the ability to pay their rent."

Steve Simons, deputy chairman of the Uptown Market Association, set up to regenerate Northeast Hamilton, is also in favour of the idea, although he feels that other areas should be considered for such developments too.

Citing his admiration for the design of Sir John Swan's apartment complex, Atlantis, he said: "I could envisage a number of high-rise buildings in our Bermudian pastel colours, although all of Hamilton can share in that."