Former Housing Minister Quinton Edness fully supports plans to replace Victoria and Albert Rows.But while he praised Wedco Chairman Walter Lister for his work for the people in the 140-year-old units, he described the Grand Atlantic housing project in Warwick as a mistake, calling for work there to stop.“Building is still going on and it should be stopped because no one is buying them,” Mr Edness said. “They are still building units that there just is no demand for.“When it was announced, the need for that level of houses to be sold in Bermuda a that time was not there. What they needed was affordable houses that could be rented to low income families.“A big problem with what Dr [Ewart] Brown did with Grand Atlantic is that he used up green land that should be given to the people of this country as a park.“He used up some of the most valuable green land and destroyed the environment down there.”Mr Edness spoke on the issue of the West End housing development days after the One Bermuda Alliance attacked the $36 million project’s financing.OBA’s Mark Pettingill told the House of Assembly on Friday he questioned if Government had put the building of the prefabricated units out to tender, and said the project would likely lead to a Government shortfall and further damage to the local housing market.Mr Edness, who served as Minister of Housing under the United Bermuda Party, said: “I think Mr Lister is right to try and do something for the people along Victoria and Albert Rows who have lived in appalling conditions for a long time.“What he has done, as I understand it, is he went out and got a company that does the prefabricated housing and what will happen is the prefab housing company will sell the housing to Bermuda and local construction companies will put it in place.“I did the same thing as Housing Minister many years ago. The model was purchased from a company in Denmark and it was shipped to Bermuda. I believe we must have done 100 houses.”While Mr Pettingill noted that the rent for residents in the units would increase from an average of $880 a month to between $1,600 and $2,100 a month, leaving tenants unable to pay rent, Mr Edness said Government subsidies could keep tenants afloat until their finances are better.“We did that in Fenton’s Drive,” Mr Edness said. “We did subsidise their rent and eventually they came up, they improved their income and they were able to pay their full rent.“We borrowed, I believe it was $10 million, and we built a lot of prefabricated houses out of that and the rents were able to pay that back within ten years.”Mr Edness stressed the need for the new housing, saying that many of the people who live in Victoria and Albert Rows deserve a better quality of life.Asked what he thought about 100 units replacing 48 units, he said that Government shouldn’t build a glut of housing.“Perhaps they are looking at moving other people to the new affordable units, the other 50 that they are building. If that’s what they are planning on doing, they should say that and where they are coming from,” Mr Edness said.“There are people in other areas of this country living in appalling accommodations so I don’t mind the Government or a Quango replacing those units.”