Bermuda will struggle to increase its working population until a critical shortage of housing is addressed, according to the Chamber of Commerce.

The Government has stated it wants to increase the population by more than 8,400 over the next five years through local workforce retention, reducing migration and enabling economic growth through immigration.

In a wide-ranging video interview with The Royal Gazette, the chamber’s president, Marico Thomas, and the organisation’s CEO, Danielle Riviere, were asked what were the pressing issues facing business.

“It is a difficult balance. There are insufficient people but we cannot have more people because there are not enough houses,” said Ms Riviere.

She heard of someone who came to the island for a job but actually left Bermuda after finding no suitable accommodation.

“It is the chicken and the egg conversation but there is a recognition that we have to focus on housing,” she added.

Mr Thomas added: “There are insufficient numbers of people in Bermuda to satisfy all the jobs that exist and the jobs that are projected.

“If you then say that we are looking for 8,000 people to come to Bermuda, that is going to lead to a housing issue.”

The chamber has been trying to find out why housing has become a key issue but said there was no one reason.

“We know there are some people who have taken their houses off the market. We know there are concerns around how the landlord-tenant relationship is supported and we know that the Landlord and Tenant Act needs to be reviewed. We know that the Government is looking at that.”

The chamber said the Act heavily favoured the tenant so that landlords did not feel they were protected if someone was not paying the rent.

One example the chamber said it had come across was a case where a tenant had not paid rent for three years.

When taken to court, the tenant was given a year to pay off the arrears. The house was taken off the market.

Ms Riviere added: “We have learnt about rent control and what impact that has around people being able to charge rents that are sustainable and allow them to keep their properties at a high standard.

“There are various reasons, I don’t think there is one reason why the housing has gone. I think there are lots of small pieces that have added up to a larger problem.”

It has also been suggested that Covid-19 stress split apart families, who then went on to live in more than one house.

The Government has acknowledged an acute housing shortage and has committed to providing $15 million over the next three years to build more affordable, public housing units.

However, Mr Thomas added: “Bermuda does not have a sufficient supply of the type of housing that is required to attract some of the larger CEOs in international business and even the C-suite themselves.

“Two and three-bed housing is in incredibly short supply, as is housing for mid-management as is housing for service employees. We are totally short on housing across the board.”

Both Mr Thomas and Ms Riviere said there was little option but to “build up”, which might lead to “uncomfortable changes”.

Ms Riviere added: “It is the conversation within government about taking buildings up and I know for us that those types of changes can be uncomfortable because we are a people who like things to stay as they are.

“The reality is we cannot grow out and so we can only grow up – we have to be willing to stretch from what our norm is and government seems to be willing and ready to do it.

“We have to get creative. We cannot control the derelict houses. We cannot control the houses that are in probate. But we are starting to have the conversation about what we potentially can control; what are the options and possibilities out there, again thinking outside the box.”

She said that during a meeting with the Premier, he mentioned the need for a broader community conversation, including input from business in terms of industry developments.

She said: “It is a bigger conversation than what just can government do and we are prepared to start having those conversations.“

• The accompanying video was recorded Wednesday at the Chamber of Commerce offices