While he called the suggestions made by Labour Minister Terry Lister "worth exploring", Opposition Whip Maxwell Burgess said becoming educated was another way the housing crisis could be tackled.

Last week, Mr. Lister told members of the Bermuda Employers Council that international businesses should consider forming partnerships with contracting companies in order to provide housing for their employees who possessed work permits.

"We are becoming more reliant on guest workers," Mr. Burgess said. "I think we need to explore the Minister's suggestion."

However, Mr. Burgess said, Bermudians need to take advantage of opportunities and empower themselves so they may be able to afford housing when the need arises.

"We have to get our young people to begin to see there are employment opportunities which exists ," he said.

But he also said, the allocations of funds for educational opportunities have to be looked at to ensure that everyone has a chance to achieve their dreams.

"Someone aspiring to become an accountant, they should not be unable to find money (to go to school)," he said. "If that Bermudian was able to become qualified, they are capable of taking care of their own housing when the time comes."

And while he admitted that the United Bermuda Party Government may have made a mistake when it closed down the Bermuda Technical Institute, he said it needed to brought back - the sooner, the better.

"It's a bigger mistake to let every day go by without it," Mr. Burgess said.

Mr. Burgess called on parents to commit themselves to making sure their children are educated.

"Even if we do all we can do, the parents have to ensure their children can be all they can be," he said. "We could be one of the few societies to tell people 'We have work for you, so avail yourself'."

But as he said there were companies offering employment opportunities to locals, Government MP Dale Butler said some were just not taking advantage.

"The company I work for gave a former prisoner a chance. On the first day he worked for an hour, Mr. Butler said. "On the second evening he said he was suffering from morning sickness."

By the third day, Mr. Butler said, the man disappeared from the job after committing two thefts.

"What does a Government do?" he questioned.

But Government backbencher Reginald Burrows said Bermudians needed to stop turning up their noses to what they considered as menial jobs.

"In its hey day, Bermudians were lining up to be pot washers. Not today," he said. "It's difficult to get Bermudians to do landscaping. It's not that easy to get Bermudians to do these types of jobs."

And, he said, while people complained about the number of expatriates who arrive on the Island to work, there were still not enough qualified Bermudians to fill job vacancies.

"Are we to tell people you can't set up a company because we don't have Bermudians to fill jobs?" he asked. "Until we get qualified Bermudians, we have problems."

Mr. Burrows also said locals needed to to be more accepting of guest workers if they wanted to maintain the high standard of living they were used to.

"A lot of residents want to live like tourists on the Island, but we are going to have to be more tolerant if we want to continue to live the way we do.

"All of the people who work on the Island make a financial contribution. They live in our houses and they shop in our stores...," he said.