The biggest scandal to emerge under the Progressive Labour Party government has been at Bermuda Housing Corporation, where a major Police fraud inquiry has been going on for more than a year into claims of corruption and massive over-payments.

Affordable housing both to rent and buy has been one of the hottest topics on the doorsteps as many Bermudians feel themselves priced out of the market.

The United Bermuda Party sees housing as a huge PLP weakness and the UBP has pledged to build 100 homes for rent within two years of winning office.

But what could be the UBP's trump card in the election is its plan to allow Bermudians to buy a new two bedroom home on a mortgage of less than $2,000 a month, giving many who had given up on the chance of owning a piece of the rock the chance to purchase their own home.

The 'First Homes' plan, involving four percent mortgages for the first five years, has been well received by the Island's three major banks, according to UBP leader Grant Gibbons.

The UBP has been pushing the policy hard in newspaper adverts and in information stalls in public places such as supermarkets.

The PLP's plans are not known and the party's election platform has not yet been released, but in May, Housing Minister David Burch said Government was working on a major new house-building programme. No details are known of the initiative.

Since shadow Housing Minister Michael Dunkley began to make public damning revelations about the way BHC was run in the House of Assembly last year, the PLP-appointed general manager Raymonde Dill has been sacked along with property officer Terrence Smith.

Premier Jennifer Smith took action last October to remove the housing portfolio from Health Minister Nelson Bascome and give it to Senate leader Colonel Burch.

Col. Burch has put 37 companies and contractors on a stop list of people with whom BHC will not do business because of shoddy work or suspected over-charging.

And BHC is threatening to take to court around 30 companies and individuals it believes have ripped off the corporation.

The sorry state of BHC became apparent when Col. Burch said in January that those threatened with civil suits did not even include the more serious cases which police were investigating.

Col. Burch declined to be interviewed for this article, but said the PLP's housing plans would be revealed in the election platform.

In its list of "achievements" published last week, the PLP says its has "completed plans for construction of an initial 100 rental homes," expanded the housing stock for the needy with "active" plans to do more through collaborative ventures, and given incentives for the private sector to renovate derelict properties.

But Mr. Dunkley yesterday branded the PLP's housing record as a damning failure.

"The PLP's record has been abysmal. Some people say to me 'Aren't you being a little harsh on them?' and I say no, because when you take BHC, everything else pales in comparison, so you can't use anything else as progress, because that overshadows everything," said Mr. Dunkley.

"At the last election, housing was one of the biggest issues and they caned the UBP mercilessly for not tackling the issue, and quite rightly so, but in four and a half years they have presided over a housing situation that has deteriorated into a crisis.

"On every doorstep we hear tales of woe of people not being able to get affordable rental units or are not able to afford to own a piece of the rock. People had so much hope in the new Bermuda, and it has come to this.

"In spite of Colonel Burch trying to turn things around, and I do give him credit for attempting to rectify things, it has been 18 months (since the scandal broke) and they haven't cleared up anything in the housing corporation.

"All he has managed to do is stop the ship from sinking, but we haven't moved forward and made any progress."

When asked how he thought the UBP's First Homes scheme would go down with the electorate, he said: "I am not going to read the minds of the voters and say this could win us the election, but we feel very confident it is a workable plan that should meet the needs of many, many Bermudians, and we are just excited to have the opportunity to perform that plan.

"And in the next couple of days we will come out with further information on housing for the future which we hope will give the voters something to think about, and we are hopeful they will make a decision based on cold, hard facts.

"I am still not clear what the PLP has provided the people of Bermuda in terms of housing. We believe our initiatives are a couple of good first steps to break the back of the problem we are facing.

"We are committed to living up to the commitments we have made and we believe we have a good team in place to do that and to continue this in the future so that housing doesn't continue being the crisis it is now."

Mr. Dunkley attacked Col. Burch for not releasing information for this article about what the PLP will do, saying it was typical of the party's record of being reluctant to give out information.

"If we as politicians give a commitment to serve the people of Bermuda, we need to deal with the media, not just when it is convenient to you, but also when the media want you," he said.

"This gives you the opportunity to put your side, but more importantly, if you don't, people think you are hiding something.

"We are trying to get out information so you get balanced reporting and it is unfortunate the PLP has continued for four or five years in government to continually blame the media for being one sided.

"But how can you get balanced reporting if only one side is given out? Even in an election time, they have shown that they are unwilling to give out information."