Government reneged on a 1999 promise not to relocate residents of the low rent housing units on Anchorage Road, Opposition Senators charged yesterday.

But the Opposition managed to extract a promise from ruling party Senators that they will meet with the Anchorage Road residents, as Senators sparred over the crisis in affordable housing during yesterday's sitting of the Upper Chamber.

Besides reneging on its promises to the Anchorage Road residents, the Opposition also accused Government of failing to meet its overall responsibilities on housing.

Government Senators argued that with an overheated construction industry, it was difficult to build additional units or renovate derelict housing fast enough to address the problem soon enough.

And, they said, the Island's landlords and tenants have their roles to play too.

"He (Housing Minister Ashfield DeVent) will listen to the people. He will go to St. George's and he will not go alone ? we will go with them," said .

United Bermuda Party (UBP) kicked off the debate at the motion to adjourn, by saying that there was a "dire need" for affordable housing and that it was Government's responsibility to provide it.

He said the problem had become worse after Hurricane Fabian and he personally knew of two families which had been split up because they couldn't find adequate housing for the whole family.

And he refuted charges that the UBP was exploiting the housing crisis to score political points, saying he had worked with the two families but urged them not to go to the media.

"When you have adequate housing it is my belief that children will be able to learn properly," he said. "And parents are able to go to work comfortably."said it was difficult to get new construction projects going because of an overheated industry, without bringing in foreign workers. "That creates another problem because those persons coming in have to be housed," he said.

He added that Government's efforts were focussed on renovating derelict houses to avoid taking up more open spaces.

Sen. Burrows said there are a lot of derelict houses in Bermuda but some of them were in litigation which had to be resolved before any renovations could be done.

Noting opposition to adding units at Prospect, he said: "If we decide to put up more concrete, everywhere we go to do that, someone is going to complain."said that, at last count, there were 2,000 vacant houses in Bermuda, including derelict ones. And he called on landlords with empty properties to contact the Bermuda Housing Corporation and make their properties available.

Sen. Roban said that alternatives to building more houses should be used because Bermuda may not be able to maintain the current rate of adding 300 more houses to the Island's stock every year.said that Government had delivered "well meaning utterances" but "we have to look at the actions of the Government."

He accused Government of betraying the Anchorage Road residents by promising them in 1999 that the properties would be renovated and they would move back in, only to tell them after last year's elections that following the renovations the properties would be put up for sale for over $700,000.

Sen. Swan said many of the Anchorage Road residents had lived there for over 20 years and Government was ripping the community apart.

"I'm calling on the junior Minister to meet with the people of Anchorage Road and keep and honour the promise made to them previously," he said.

He questioned Government's credentials as a protector of the working class, saying it was a "travesty" to put low rent housing on the market at a price outside the reach of many people. "When the Government is pricing houses beyond the means of the community, you know we're all in trouble."

Sen. Tannock was quick to respond to Sen. Swan's challenge of meeting with the Anchorage Road residents.

But he pointed out that Bermuda's housing problems go back many years. He said the Government was "caring" and "understanding" and inclusive, and that "things were being done" to find affordable housing.

"We make sure our people are being taken care of." was sceptical of what he called Government's "lip service".

He said that Housing Minister DeVent was bound to follow through on Government's reversal on Anchorage Road because of the collective responsibility of the Cabinet.

"He is burdened with the responsibility of disposing them (Anchorage Road residents) because the Government has already made that decision," he said. "The decision has been made to dispose of and displace these people."

He said if he was preaching from his pulpit he would be able to call the Government liars and hypocrites.

But "the people of this country can see it for what it is ? what the Government claims to be in its plans for re-election and what they do are two different things."

He said should foreign construction workers come in, "we will find housing for all of those people but we cannot find housing for Bermudians."

And turning to the dispute over Government's plans to build more housing at Prospect, he noted that MP Glenn Blakeney had promised the residents there that no building will occur.

"We're saying one thing but doing another... And we're claiming to have the interests of the people at heart," he said. "The only people being fooled is them. The rest of us are not so inclined." said that housing needs to be managed "all the time," but that UBP Governments mismanaged it in the past.

"You cannot come up with a housing solution overnight," he said. Anchorage Road had not been renovated since the early 1980s, he said, and that was a failure of the UBP.

He said there were 2,000 vacant and derelict houses ? far more than the 1,000 people on BHC's list.

The Senator called on landlords to resolve their property disputes speedily and renovate their properties so they can go on the market.

"If landlords don't come on board then our hands are tied. Those houses need to be made available by the landlords."

Tenants also have a responsibility, Sen. Mussenden continued, "to conduct their tenancy in a proper manner."

"In order for us to get those 1,000 people into those 2,000 derelict and vacant houses we have got to work together."