Chambers yesterday.

Senators debated Government Sen. Gary Pitman 's motion taking note of the corporation's 1995 annual report.

He said the BHC was all about "people,'' and taking care of Bermudians "not adequately served by the private sector.'' It had a mission of assuring adequate and affordable housing and promoting home ownership. "It has been and remains the Country's social conscience,'' Sen. Pitman said.

Created by a 1973 act of Parliament, Government turned over 200 rental properties to the BHC in the mid-1970s. The corporation assumed the role of developer to increase its portfolio, building 223 houses in five different parishes between 1983 and 1986.

It became the biggest landlord on the Island.

As well as renting homes that it owned, BHC used a private sector rental programme to rent 74 homes from private owners and sublet them to clients.

BHC used to charge rents significantly below market value, but that was not fair, Sen. Pitman said. It "discriminated against all of the tenants in Bermuda.'' BHC was now hiking its rents to market value, and subsidies would be paid separately.

The corporation had also played an important role in providing mortgages, Sen.

Pitman said, lending more than $70 million since 1974.

Many Bermudians could not meet the private sector requirements -- generally a one-third down payment and a maximum term of 15 years.

A comparison of the 1980 and 1991 censuses showed that the percentage of Bermudians who owned homes had swelled to 56 percent from 47 percent.

The rate was 72 percent in Australia and 63 percent in the United States, and it could be argued Bermuda should move closer to those numbers.

In recent years, BHC has moved to using private sector lenders after doing the preliminary work on the mortgage itself. There was an option under which the BHC would buy back loans that were not performing.

Five mortgages had been bought back since 1988.

The BHC "truly has served and continues to serve a very, very positive role for Bermuda,'' Sen. Pitman said. It had allowed Bermudians "to realise their dreams of owning a piece of the rock.'' Sen. Terry Lister (PLP) said it was part of his party's 1968 election platform that Government provide housing, and the PLP "harped on it'' for about six years until Government brought it in.

There was a housing crisis in the early 1980s, when the divorce rate shot up and there was high affluence among young people. Then, young men between 18 and 21 were moving out and renting homes, just so they could buy a car.

In the growing economy, there was a large influx of people on work permits, and there was "a significant housing shortage.'' But Government said it had no business building houses. "It's funny how time makes a bad idea a good idea.'' Sen. Lister said he disagreed with the move to hike rents to market value and pay subsidies directly.

It had no effect on the finances of the scheme, but it did have social effects.

Now, tenants would have to be questioned by Social Services, who would "shake them down.'' "Why downgrade and possibly degrade those individuals?'' he asked.

Sen. Lister noted the BHC's increase in net rental income to $940,000 from $544,000 a year earlier had been largely as a result of maintenance work which had been deferred due to a personnel departure.

Did a programme stop because a staff member left? "That's not acceptable.'' Lister: Fewer studios needed There were reportedly 2,000 vacant houses in Bermuda, Sen. Lister said. And BHC research showed more three and four-bedroom homes were needed and fewer studios and one and two-bedroom flats.

That meant that "those people greatest in need are those who have the least ability to pay their way,'' he said.

Of BHC households, 39 percent were overcrowded and only ten percent had more space than they needed.

He estimated close to 150 of the 380 units the BHC controlled were over-crowded.

Why were people not being moved into larger houses? And why were only 74 private homes being used when "there is a whole pile of vacant houses out there?'' Turning to the housing at the Bases, Sen. Lister said people could not believe they would be torn down when they were needed.

And it was "an embarrassment in our relations with the Americans'' to say the homes the Americans had been living in for 50 years were not any good.

Sen. Lister said Government's policy aimed at preventing owners of BHC homes from making a profit when they sold was one which made sense in a heated real estate market, but was now out of date.

He also applauded the efforts of BHC staff, but questioned whether staff members should be giving advice in areas like wills and estate planning.

"As capable as they may be,'' Sen. Lister said of the BHC workers, "none of these people has a legal background that I know of. And estate planning is very tricky. It's a serious matter.'' Sen. Lister, using the BHC's 1993 annual report as a reference point, said that the corporation had achieved its outlined goal of placing less of an emphasis on the building of new housing units, but not its objectives of acquiring more three and four-bedroom units and renovating older and derelict properties.

"I am looking at the `93 annual report and using the `95 report as a report card,'' the senator said, adding that the BHC's renovation plans have "fallen short'' and the reduction of rental units when homes with more bedrooms were required was "nonsensical.'' On the other hand, Sen. Lister called the BHC's attention to the housing needs of the Island's elderly and homeless "commendable,'' though he cautioned that the corporation would have sharpen its identity as Bermuda approaches the 21st century.

"What is the role of the corporation as an ongoing programme?'' Sen. Lister asked. "Is it a Government programme that is on self-pilot? If so, that makes me very uncomfortable, because the BHC is a vital, vital organisation that has a key role to play.'' Sen. Larry Scott (UBP) was generally more praising of the BHC's staff, saying that "Bermuda owes a debt of gratitude to a hard-working team that is providing a very important service to people who really need it.'' But, the senator added, "I don't want to characterise their target group as a group of destitute people, because they are not.'' Sen. Scott, citing a recent Royal Gazette editorial in which the effectiveness of the BHC was questioned, also dismissed the idea that the corporation had run its course.

"Despite the fact that the Editor of The Royal Gazette recently said that the BHC should be disbanded, it does fulfill a vital role, even if it is subsidised. It's like the bus service. We subsidise that.'' On the subject of subsidies, Sen. Scott took issue with Sen. Lister's suggestion that they be provided by Government in perpetuity, saying that "we must not impose elitist standards on the so-called destitute.'' "Sen. Lister doesn't live his life that way,'' Sen. Scott told his colleagues. " Like me, he also came from humble beginnings, and cut the cloth to fit the suit.'' Continued in Friday's newspaper.