GOVERNMENT was urged last night to reassure home seekers who put down deposits for the planned Southside units of the collapsed Bermuda Homes For People (BHP) project.

Opposition Leader Dr. Grant Gibbons said yesterday the Government had been "caught in a lie" by hiding the true state of the project as Bermudians were investing in it.

The scheme was a collaboration between the public and private sectors to build 198 low-cost homes, half to be sold off at $199,000 each.

It was announced this week that the driving force behind the project, businessman Clifford Schorer, has resigned, claiming he is owed $733,000.

In a written statement released yesterday, United Bermuda Party (UBP) leader Dr. Gibbons said: "Despite the earlier denials of Premier Scott and Minister (Ashfield) DeVent, my colleague Maxwell Burgess exposed the fact that the first public private partnership of the Progressive Labour Party's (PLP) so-called Social Agenda has collapsed. And in its wake there are a huge number of unanswered questions.

"What we have learned is that the Bermuda Homes for People (BHP) housing project is technically insolvent, that the major principal, Mr. Clifford Schorer, has bailed out, and that the Government has refused to inject any funds.

"We also understand that there was never any written contract between Government and the BHP, despite the fact that Mr. DeVent was planning to give them some $30 million of taxpayers' land."

The Government announced this week that the project would be turned over to the Bermuda Land Development Company. Dr. Gibbons said this was a "complete about-face" by the Government, which had tried to take the land from the BLDC in the first place.

"There is no guarantee that the BLDC can or will take on the project in its original form," Dr. Gibbons said. "In fact, unlike the Progressive Labour Party (PLP) Government, the BLDC actually have their own housing plan, which they were progressing.

"So now, we really have to ask how the PLP Government could allow families to deposit their hard-earned money into a project that they knew was in financial and logistical trouble?

"We believe the families who invested in the dream that was BHP must be given the assurance that the time, money and hope that they invested will not be lost."

He said investors had been "badly misled" and Government owed it to them to answer several key questions:

Will the families who put down deposits in good faith with the Bermuda Homes for People be placed first on the list for the BLDC housing?

What is the new timetable for the project going forward?

Is the original concept of $200,000 homes still realistic and how many will now be built?

How will the project be funded since the BLDC was given a total budget of only $3 million this year and Government has refused to put any more money in?

Since BHP is insolvent, who will now pay compensation to the Marginal Wharf tenants who are being evicted?

Will these Marginal Wharf tenants still have to move this year?

Will the tax payer end up paying Mr. Schorer the $733,000 in expenses he claims he is owed?

How could Government allow Bermuda Homes for People to operate while it was insolvent?

And, what written agreements are there, if any, between Government and Mr. Schorer and the BHP?