"I have no idea where I'm going to go." After four years in the Salvation Army's

Emergency Housing Complex, Quinton Liburd, 58, says that when he was forced to leave last night he had no choice but to head back out on the streets.

"It's dangerous out there at night," Liburd says as he digs discreetly into a sack holding his scant possessions.

He drew a rusted pair of gardening sheers from the bag: "These are only for my own peace of mind," he says, "Just to threaten anyone away from me."

Mr. Liburd is one of seven men who were left homeless last night when renovations forced the complex to close one of its six units. Most of the other 17 men who live in 'Booth One', have found alternative housing, but it is not clear what will become of Liburd and the six other residents.

Dismissing rumours that the men staged a 'sit in' yesterday, complex manager Lionel Cann said that he gave the men notice in November that they would have to be out by January 1. Renovations are scheduled to begin today.

"When I came in this morning at nine, there was no one on the property except the cleaning woman," Mr. Cann said, adding that he was pained to send the men back out on the streets, the very place the Salvation Army saved them from when it was founded more than 20 years ago. But an absence of alternatives, he said, only revealed a gaping hole in Bermuda's safety net for the homeless.

"We are the end of the line he said adding that 68 men and women live in the small prefabricated cabins on the property adjoining The Transport Control Department in Pembroke.

What sparked recent protests, he said, was an order given on Wednesday alerting Booth One that they could not return last night.

"I don't want to send them out but these repairs have been needed for over 20 years. It has taken four years, to establish a relationship with Works and Engineering and Government to get these renovations under way."

The only unit with with a wooden floor, Mr. Cann said Booth One was the first up for renovation. A new cement floor will fill in a cavity under the floor boards where residents store things.

Four of Booth One's residents who suffer from either mental or physical ailments were housed within the complex, whilst many others are moving in with family and friends

When asked about the remaining seven homeless men, Mr. Cann said: "Ideally Government would provide them with some other housing while the renovations are completed

"This is the only emergency housing available on the Island."

What is more, he added the Parsons Road neighbourhood where the complex is located is a drug hot spot.

"The Salvation Army and Police have done all we can to clean this area up, but we still have many problems."

The sky high prices for housing on the Island are not helping to get his men out of the complex either, he said.

"It's as if these men are caught in a whirlpool. They are sucked back into the drugs and alcohol over and over again. And when they want out of it, they have a hard road ahead."

What is needed,he said, is another level of emergency housing between the Salvation Army Complex and the regular housing market."These men can't go from paying $50 a week here to paying $3,000 for a place ," he said.

Another option, Mr. Cann said, is replacing the current six unit complex with a much larger building. Security would be upgraded from the dilapidated fence currently circling the compound, and more effective 'in house' treatment programs could be created.

"Right now we can't lock the men down, or enforce their 11 p.m. curfew," he said, adding drug use was common on the property.

When asked yesterday about the evictions, Housing Minister Ashfield DeVent said that he had only limited information: "I'm only aware of (the evictions) off the news, but there has to be some work done at the facility. At this point the situation is being assessed."

After a moment of hesitation he added:"There's some who might question that facility's success. Right now we're stepping back again because the buildings were allowed to fall into a state of disrepair without maintenance. We'll do some quick repairs and see what we can do to replace them on a larger scale.

"Is only providing housing for these people - just a place for them to live - enough?" he asked. "Surely we should be focusing on providing some more assistance to make them more self sufficient."

Mr. Cann was unable to say how long the renovations would last.