National

Former PM Minnis Defends Housing Record

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – Former Prime Minister Hubert Minnis defends the Free National Movement’s housing record after receiving criticism from current Minister of Housing and Urban Renewal, Keith Bell.

Published

6 months ago

June 18, 2025

Denielle Miller

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – Former Prime Minister Hubert Minnis defends the Free National Movement’s housing record after receiving criticism from current Minister of Housing and Urban Renewal, Keith Bell.

Dr. Hubert Minnis – Former Prime Minister

“Now I ask the Bahamian populous, which program….would you prefer…, a program where they’re building homes with multiple defects, or would you prefer a program where the government is giving you your land, [and] all the infrastructure in place within a subdivision…?”

“You can bring in everything you want duty free the law is there already, [where] you can select a plan that cost one thousand dollars, and you don’t have to come up with any down payment,” Minnis said.

Former Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis slammed claims made by Housing and Urban Renewal Minister, Keith Bell during the 2025/2026 budget debate in parliament on Tuesday.

Bell told parliament that under the leadership of the member for Killarney and then prime minister, not one government-built home was delivered between 2017 and 2021.

Dr. Minnis told reporters Wednesday that in 2018, his administration tabled plans to offer low-cost lots to potential first-time home buyers.

Minnis also insisted that his government was actively delivering on the promise of producing a new generation of home owners.

“A perfect example [would be] in the Pine Crest Subdivision in the south…we sold those properties to individuals at twelve to fourteen thousand dollars…with eighty thousand dollars they had sixty thousand dollars equity, visit that area today and see the beautiful homes those people built,” Minnis said.

However, this is not the first time Dr. Minnis has had to defend his administration’s housing record.

Back in November 2021, just weeks after being defeated at the polls, he defended the Prospect Ridge Housing Project, saying a lot of work had been done to realize his vision of an affordable, but upscale community for young people.

His comments came after then Housing and Transport Minister Jobeth Colbey-Davis criticized the project, claiming it lacked many essential parts.