With the significant demand for homes within The Bahamas, relief is on the way for some Bahamian families with the government announcing a new subdivision in the Adastra Gardens Area.

Minister For Housing Kenred Dorsett says new construction systems would enable them to drive down the cost of homes and persons on BMC’s Mortgage list would be the recipients for the new houses.

“There are literally thousands of people on the list and you can hear the persons from BMC chuckling in the background, clearly there is a significant demand for homes in The Bahamas and one of the things we have done over the past few months  is discover new systems which is going to enable us to drive down the cost of homes.

“So people we have traditionally turned away because our inventory was at a price they could attain we are now able to look at those applications and obviously the list would continue to grow as we expand the housing program.

Prime Minister Perry Christie said the government’s partnership with Arawak Homes and future private sector partners are a part of a new model that is expected to be a major boost to the housing and construction industry.

“This new model is a template that can be followed; I’ve been informed that over 200 persons have been impacted on the site, contractors and manufacturers of Bahamian companies.

“This project demonstrates the level of success we can get when you have proper management from the private sector (Arawak Homes) I was told they were initially presented with 55 homes and Arawak Homes redesigned about 61.

“So essentially we’re marrying public sector will and resources with private sector creativity and innovation. We have people that want to be able to afford homes but the problem is managing construction costs so that a wider group of persons are eligible for those homes, ” Mr. Christie said.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Works Brave Davis reiterated these sentiments and said that new model alleviates a lot of pressure from the government and makes the construction process much more effective and efficient.

“This model is something we really need to embrace because it spreads the wealth and makes for synergies of efforts that has really brought the cost of constructing a house down.

“The model also assists the government with its own cash flow difficulty challenges because we don’t have to come up with the money upfront and when a buyer comes and buys the Mortgage Corporation will pay for that, so it’s a win-win situation for all,” Mr. Davis said.

FNM Deputy Leader Peter Turnquest recently criticized the government’s Mortgage Relief Plan saying it needs to focus on bigger ideas and properly examining the interest rate spread in regards to housing.