Affordable housing for Bermuda is an issue which should be tackled by the private sector with minimum Government intervention, according to a panel of speakers at the Bermuda Industrial Union's forum on Tuesday night.

Experts from the real estate industry and business world were brought together to share their views on what the Island can do to alleviate the housing crunch. Panellists said Government can work as a partner with the private sector to facilitate such developments, but genuinely affordable housing should be a private sector venture and one which harnesses the tools of a good economy to its advantage.

Just under 70 audience members gathered to hear presentations by panellists Cris Valdes Dapena, director of The Property Group, Craig Laws, manager and President of electrical company Brilliant Solutions, and former Bermuda Housing Corporation Chairman Raymonde Dill.

Clifford Schorer, of Bermuda Homes for people, proposing 100 low cost homes at Southside, also participated in the solution- oriented session.

The speakers looked at how Bermuda can move towards providing its population with more affordable housing based on demographics, demand, supply, and prices. They thrashed out social issues, trends in the international business world, and issues which affect Bermudian households struggling to secure an affordable home.

Panellists felt that an affordable housing alliance, Government tax and tariff relief on building supply and construction material, and the construction of more mid-range housing units would ultimately help to stabilise the market as Bermuda's properties hit the million dollar plus price range.

Craig Laws, suggested the private sector form an affordable housing alliance to make decisions and implement them in the community. "An affordable housing alliance can make some of the decisions about housing and help to implement the strategies. It must be addressed from the proper perspective, we must have sure management, tactfulness and work to break down the complex issue into smaller individual problems," said Mr. Laws.

He said affordability was an issue but the concept of having everyone own a home was an unfair statement to make considering the demographics of the Island and the amount of money landlords invested into building a property and maintaining it. "Affordable home ownership and affordable rental property has to be at an affordable level for the individual. You cannot expect a property owner to put $500,000 worth of finishing into a home to expect a low return on a high investment."

Mr. Laws suggested the alliance could work as a private sector and Government initiative, with the Government providing information on the demographics of the housing needy community. The private sector would be responsible for creative thinking, financing, and encouraging the alliance to become a relative factor in the housing crisis.

Cris Valdes Dapena spoke about the price of accommodation in Bermuda with a breakdown on the number of roofs available versus the number of people who need roofs. "When there are less roofs available, the prices rise, were that not the case landlords could not afford to be so discriminating," she said.

Ms Valdes Dapena said the international business community, with its workers on housing allowances that exceed those of the average Bermudian, impacted the market at all levels. She said the solution for providing more stability in the market for the low to middle class was to build more affordable housing units, or two to three bedroom units on small plots of land.

"One hundred to two hundred units are going to have an impact, in a couple of years adding 100-200 in the overall supply to a community as small as ours will make a difference," she said.

Ms Valdes Dapena said Government's role is to get out of the way and let such developments happen in a partnership capacity rather than taking on an ownership role. She also suggested former tourism properties such as guest houses, which were not fully in use could be used for accommodations or condominiums. She suggested affordable housing remain as a private sector venture and Government make a contribution by having an impact on the cost of labour, or construction. Businessman Clifford Schorer said hard working Bermudians were sometimes put in the same position as the working poor in the United States, who had good jobs and reasonable wages, but could not get out of the cycle of paying rent and paying their bills. He said the marketplace had left them behind without an inheritance or the business acumen of having a home.

Mr. Schorer suggested Bermuda work towards single room occupancy housing for people, such as senior citizens, who don't need large accommodation. Using Nantucket, Massachusetts, as an example, Mr. Schorer said affordable ownership programs had been implemented to allow families to own three bedroom town houses. Rather than Government controlling the rent levels of different properties, which he said does not provide an incentive for landlords to maintain the property, Government can provide land subsidies for under-utilised land to create housing, re-zoning land to allow for more units, which would drop the price, and creating more stock at a lower price.

"Government fails as a landlord. What is happening now in the United States is that thousands of housing units are becoming torn down and re-developed and put into the private sector because the private sector can do it better," he said. Mr. Schorer said more information needs to be developed to create a master plan and statistics needs to be compiled of the number of units available, the number of people in need, and the steps to be taken to create an overall plan so housing doesn't become an issue we talk about "forever and ever".

Socially, Mr. Schorer said first time buyers needed to be educated about ownership by the banks, and programmes could be implemented to allow first time owners low interest or no interest mortgages.

Mr. Schorer also called for building code reform and a master plan in the construction industry to lower the cost of building with development incentives. He also suggested charitable and Government efforts could be used to help people get a leg into an affordable housing development.