Shadow Housing Minister Jon Brunson blasted Government for doing little to alleviate Bermuda's housing woes — despite years of promises.

He said Government had promised 330 housing units in 30 months in 2005 and was now two months away from the deadline with little sign of progress.

"People are still waiting, people are still hurting," he said. "This Government's record is unacceptable."

To Government heckling that he had said the same thing last year, Mr. Brunson agreed.

He added: "I didn't think I would have to say it again. It is for those people living and sleeping in cars and living and sleeping in tents.

"I would like to hear success next time I come here rather than promises."

Earlier junior Housing Minister Walter Roban said the Bermuda Housing Corporation project management team was working at an aggressive pace to bring housing projects on-line.

"We will be the first to admit that a number of events outside the control of the Corporation have caused some delays which have only gone further to fuel our determination to deliver."

He said the first 21 units at the Loughlands project had been delivered well ahead of the contract date with the new owners set to have a meeting with Government last night.

The 38-unit Perimeter Lane development, which is BHC's first major rent geared to income project, has started with the retaining wall already completed on the first block.

He said work had started on the Harbour View Village project after "many challenges" and work would be accelerated over the coming months.

"The BHC and its private sector partners have plans before the Department of Planning right now; a number of plans which when delivered will see the number of units far surpass the numbers that are often spoken of."

He said 59 studio and one- and two-bed units were planned for Pepperhall Road, Southside and 16 units for Ewing Street in Pembroke.

More funds would be available to make major renovations on 60-plus other units while the maintenance team had been doubled with skilled workers, said Mr. Roban.

And he said 800 families had been housed since the PLP came to power but was challenged later by Shadow Works and Engineering Minister Patricia Gordon-Pamplin over whether that included homes provided by the private sector.

She said Government had dragged its feet over providing alternative homes for Canadian Hotel residents.

Mrs. Gordon-Pamplin wondered why people were still sleeping under the stars in affluent Bermuda.

Government was continually talking about its vacant and derelict housing programme to revive empty properties but she questioned how many had been identified and remediated.

She told of a BHC tenant paying hundreds of dollars a month for shared water and raised the plight of families living in Southside where families had been split up on gender lines.

Government backbencher Glenn Blakeney said Bermuda's housing market was driven by market forces and that "greed and avarice is often cloaked in the coat and gown of ambition".

Talks were being held on changing leaseholds to freeholds in areas of his Devonshire North Central constituency, said Mr. Blakeney.

To Opposition claims about Government's slowness to attack the wider housing problem, he admitted: "It might not be happening fast enough for some people or indeed most people."

But he said no one could fault Housing Minister Sen. David Burch for his efforts in tackling a difficult problem.

Opposition leader Kim Swan said Government seemed to be going backwards on the housing issue.

He said Government had mocked the UBP's housing plan in 2003 as inadequate, only to import mobile homes.

Mr. Swan said rents were out of whack with wages with some households earning $42,000 gross but having to shell out $36,000 on rent a year. It forced parents to take on extra jobs and farm out parenting duties to older children, said Mr. Swan, who agreed that Government was all talk.

"In the absence of building housing for so long, the only thing Government can do is now is promise things to come.

"I hope the day will come when there will be sufficient supply in this country for our people to have a choice where they can have a home where they don't have to work 60 to 70 hours a week, where they can put in some quality time with their families, today that option is not there."