By TAMARA McKENZIE, Assistant News Editor, tamara@nasguard.com

As the price of gas and breadbasket items continue to escalate, a former minister of housing criticized the government on Thursday for targeting homeowners with delinquent accounts at the Bahamas Mortgage Corporation (BMC).

"I just think now is a bad time to do it," said Shane Gibson in a telephone interview with The Guardian.

"It's a time when the economy has basically slowed down as a result of what the FNM did then they turn around and put people out on the streets, but I guess that's just like them and I can't say that I am surprised and I'm sure that the homeowners who voted for them should not be surprised. If you put people out of a job it's natural to see that you don't care about them so the next step of taking their house shouldn't surprise anybody."

Gibson said while he was not supporting those homeowners with delinquent accounts, it should be noted that 33 percent of the entire mortgage portfolio at the BMC had been in arrears for a number of years.

Earlier this week, Managing Director of the Bahamas Mortgage Corporation Jerome Godfrey revealed that 817 of the corporation's 2,978 accounts were delinquent, accounting for $4.67 million or 27.43 percent in mortgages financed by the corporation.

And while the average monthly mortgage payment of homeowners was around $600, Godfrey said if the corporation does not see a drop in the number of delinquent accounts, foreclosures could be on the horizon.

Over the last 25 years the corporation has approved loans to Bahamians in excess of $346.9 million.

Meanwhile Gibson said even though the BMC's account was in arrears the former Progressive Liberal Party administration was very "careful" about putting people out on the streets — a move that he referred to as a "last resort".

"I think persons should pay their mortgage and meet their obligations no question about that, but I question whether or not this is the right time to be threatening to put people out on the streets but I guess that is the judgment call they [the government] would have to make and they will have to live with it," Gibson said.

The corporation's announcement of delinquencies came on the heels of prior claims that had been aired about the existing financial state of the BMC.

Earlier this year, when a resolution was moved in the House of Assembly to transfer land from the Treasurer of The Bahamas to the Ministry of Housing to continue the housing program, Housing Minister Kenneth Russell said more than $2 million had been expended on infrastructure and construction in the government-built Perpall Tract and Pride Estates III subdivisions without concomitant returns to the BMC through the payment of mortgage fees.

Russell said because houses were built on land that had not been transferred to the Ministry of Housing, new homeowners did not have clear ownership of the land therefore conveyances could not be prepared and the BMC was not able to recover through mortgage payments, funds spent on the housing development.

At one point, Russell revealed that the BMC was not able to assist in the funding required to move the housing program forward because the corporation had to clear up a number of bills and was owed more than $9 million by the Department of Housing for projects completed since and before 2002.

He said that in June 2002, the BMC had a cash flow of $6,700,000, and by May of 2007, it owed the National Insurance Board $7 million for an unsecured loan it obtained in February 2007. According to Russell, it was evident from as early as January 2006 that the pace of development had outstripped the funding available for the housing program.

The housing minister said the PLP administration's aggressive attempts to build houses on 24 subdivisions in New Providence and select Family Islands, as well as on scattered sites in New Providence, had resulted in the houses availability and readiness surpassing the legal requirements for the Bahamas Mortgage Corporation and other lending agencies to provide the services.

These claims, however, have been denied on more than one occasion by former housing ministers Gibson and Neville Wisdom.

Before the PLP vacated office last May, a total of 1,316 homes had been fully completed and 70 were under construction. The last government subdivision built by the former government was Dignity Gardens, off Carmichael Road.

The Free National Movement government hopes to build 3,000 homes during its five-year term as outlined in its Trust Manifesto.