Englerston MP Glenys Hanna-Martin yesterday raised concern over what she identified as a housing crisis on New Providence, as she noted that many Bahamians are finding it increasingly difficult to afford shelter.
She made the comments during her contribution to debate on the Registered Land Bill, 2025, and the Land Adjudication Bill, 2025, which the Davis administration said will help to fix loopholes in the land registration dispute resolution systems and protect the inheritances of Bahamians.
“We find ourselves now in a situation where land is on the open market in the world, and it has had the effect of driving up the cost of land and making it inaccessible to so many people in this country,” Hanna-Martin said in the House of Assembly.
“We are also faced with this dilemma that Bahamians find it almost impossible, many thousands [of them], to access land.
“We are faced with a housing crisis in this country, and I don’t think we have fully articulated what is actually happening.
“I can only speak to what I see as a member of Parliament.
“There are so many people who are being evicted, who cannot pay the rent, because the rents are escalating, and who are being displaced and homeless because of this housing situation in this country.”
Hanna-Martin referred to the Immovable Property Act, which was passed in 1981 under then-Prime Minister Lynden Pindling, and restricted foreign ownership of real estate in The Bahamas.
The legislation was repealed in 1993 by the first Ingraham government and replaced with the International Persons Landholding Act, which encouraged foreign ownership of properties in The Bahamas.
Hanna-Martin argued that legislation has directly contributed to the housing and land ownership struggles many Bahamians face today.
“I want to thank the minister of housing and urban renewal, the MP for Carmichael, who has identified land in the Englerston constituency to provide housing, which is a solution to some of what we are seeing, but it is a very serious dilemma that we are facing in New Providence,” she said.
“So, Madam Speaker, land impacts our social and economic reality.”