Hamilton Mayor Charles Gosling has called on the Bermuda Government to take the lead in addressing the rising numbers of homeless people in the capital.

The head of the corporation told The Royal Gazette that Hamilton needed a “champion” in both the Government and Opposition to ensure meaningful action was taken to address the continuing problems associated with homelessness.

Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Social Development and Sports maintained that discussions were still ongoing with the Salvation Army about the relocation of its existing homeless shelter.

“Some of the homeless persons in the City of Hamilton frequent the Emergency Housing Shelter on North Street,” the spokeswoman added.

“As promised in the 2016 Speech from the Throne, the Ministry of Social Development and Sports is currently in discussions with the Salvation Army regarding the relocation of the existing shelter to a refurbished facility located at the old Bishop Spencer School.

“The Salvation Army intends to renovate the Bishop Spencer facility to not only provide upgraded emergency housing, but would also like to expand the social programmes that it offers to homeless people, thus enabling clients to remain at the facility during the day to participate in on-site social services and interventions aimed at helping them to improve their lives.”

But Mr Gosling urged the Government to “act immediately” and implement a “sustainable programme” to reduce the numbers of homeless living and sleeping on the streets of Hamilton.

“It is a huge issue for the Corporation at the moment, but also for retailers and businesses in the city,” he said.

“We need a champion in Government and within the Opposition too, to really sit down and address this problem.

“It’s very discouraging when we receive reports of somebody urinating on the mailbox on the corner of Reid and Burnaby Street, and the response of the courts is to give them a slap on the wrist.

“We do not feel it’s right for our staff to have to pick up human waste from outside the City Hall every morning. And what’s more this is something that businesses are having to deal with when they turn up to work in the morning.”

The Bishop Spencer move was first proposed in June 2014, but the new building would require substantial repairs that the Salvation Army would have to cover and the relocation project is yet to officially get off the ground.

In October 2015 The Royal Gazette reported that Major Frank Pittman, Bermuda’s Salvation Army divisional commander, had convened an invitation-only brainstorming session to get all possible options for its deteriorating emergency housing complex on the table.

Progressive Labour Party MP Rolfe Commissiong has questioned why the project appeared to have “completely stalled” in recent months and he also raised concerns about the state of the North Street complex.

Mr Gosling said: “There continues to be a number of people who have left their homes that really are not capable of looking after themselves.

“Their actions also have a considerable effect on the areas they have decided to take up as their new home. This is something well beyond the remit of the Corporation of Hamilton to deal with. We do not have a department of Health, Social Services or a police service to deal with these problems. It is really only Government that has the resources to deal with this situation. We would be very happy to play a role in it, but we do not have the authority to engage a solution.

“I would like to see Government take leadership of this issue. I get disappointed when I look at how many lost opportunities there have been to deal with this issue.

“There is no reason why the initial steps can not be taken immediately.

“It is very, very important for there to be a community agreement and cross-ministry agreement into how this is going to happen. We need a sustainable programme in place.”