community.

The woman -- who declined to reveal her name or employer -- told The Royal Gazette she is trying to find an affordable home for her and her family as her present lease will end in August.

Her home at the moment is her fourth in three years and was sold without warning shortly after she moved in.

She said her new landlord is honouring her rent until August 31 of this year when the lease she agreed on with the previous owner terminates.

"This means I have to pack up again and find another house so I am looking now. I have until August and that is going to come fast.'' She said she has applied to the Bermuda Housing Corporation but has not heard back from them. She has also spoken to individual Government Ministers but they have been unable to assist her.

Now she is calling on the community to help.

"I really need to find a two-bedroom house that would allow me to live reasonably comfortably so I would not have to consistently worry about money.'' The woman explained her plight which had led to her cry for help.

"I have moved house four times in the last three years, twice in the past year.'' On one occasion she moved into a house in February only to be forced out in September because her landlady wanted it for her son who was returning from college.

"I moved into a one-bedroom house with my two kids and the landlord was not kind enough to tell me that I would have to move again in six months.'' The two-bedroom house which she now lives in is rented for $1,400.

"Fourteen hundred dollars is way too much for me but if I hadn't done it, Social Services would have taken my kids away. That is what single moms are most afraid of.

"Now I have to sacrifice two weeks pay and an extra $200 to pay my rent, and that is with $136 in housing assistance as well.'' The woman said she was looking for a two-bedroom home with a rent of around $1,000 -- half her monthly salary.

"They are out there but I do not know who gets them. It is hard when you know they are out there and you do not get them when you are in dire need of housing.

"How can life be that unfair? I am only trying to provide as good a life for my children as I possibly can.'' Paying half their salary for rent is a problem many people face, said Rosemarie Pedro of the People's Coalition on Affordable Housing.

An independent PCAH survey of 30 people, the majority of whom had two or more children, revealed they were paying 60 to 65 percent of their monthly salaries on rent.

Some were paying 75 percent or more of their salaries on rent.

Particularly hard hit were households headed by Bermudian women, added Ms Pedro.

"According to the last Census by the Statistics Department, the median annual household income of a Bermudian female headed household with children is $26,196 per year, which would still indicate that these households would spend over 50 percent of their income on rent, even for Bermuda Housing Corporation accommodation,'' she continued.

The BHA recommends that the market value for a two-bedroom house should be $1,200.

A second PCAH survey of real estate firms, conducted on March 18 of this year, determined that two-bedroom homes rented, on average, for between $2,500 and $2,850.

This indicated that the average female headed family would have to pay 100 percent of their salary on rent.

But Ms Pedro said: "Recommendations given by the Newman Report show that no more than 30 percent of a household income should be spent on rent, indicating the average two-bedroom apartments should not exceed $900 per month.'' Anyone who can help the woman can contact Ms Pedro at 295-9615.