The Free National Movement (FNM) has promised to build 1,000 homes a year if it wins the upcoming general election.
However, the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) cast doubt over Pintard’s plan and pointed to the previous FNM government’s failure to build homes.
“We’re not holding brief for the PLP this time, who’s patting themselves on the back for a few hundred homes,” FNM Leader Michael Pintard said at an FNM press conference on Monday.
“We’re grateful that those families have a home, but it pales in comparison to what could be done if you have a focused administration who have a clear plan and who are prepared to work with the private sector with suitably qualified builders across this country.
“We can build more than a thousand homes each year. How do we bring down costs? One, is government has adequate land to participate in public-private partnership with contractors, small, medium, or large contractors, and can shave thousands of dollars off the cost of a home.”
The FNM’s proposal includes a zero percent down payment and removal of VAT on construction supplies for first-time homeowners.
It also proposes to influence public-private partnerships to efficiently finance and execute housing projects.
During the PLP’s rally on Monday night, Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis said, “For a party that hasn’t built a single home in over a decade, they’re now promising you to build three houses a day, every day, for the next five years.
“They claim they’ll use every contractor in the country to do so, so the rest of us wouldn’t be able to get any building work done for the next five years, according to their plan. They say they can build… 5,000 homes in five years. That equates to what I just said, three houses a day, every day, for the next five years.”
However, Pintard promised to deliver on the project and to also decrease down payments.
“There have been periods, including a period under the Progressive Liberal Party, where you have been able to build more than the meager amount of homes that have been built recently, or those that were built under the FNM in the four and a half years we were in,” he said.
He continued, “Many persons have challenges getting a down payment.
“I think the first time I built, there was indemnity insurance available. So rather than paying the $15,000 up front, I simply bought the insurance, and it was a fraction of the cost for a lump sum payment as a down payment.
“We are saying, for that small amount… it’s $1,500, you can spread that $1,500 over the life of that mortgage, where that could be paid off, and someone can come with no money down.
“So, there are a variety of ways that you are able to help homeowners, particularly first-time homeowners, particularly nurses and social workers and police officers and educators and people with disabilities, young professionals.”
