The new Divisional Commander of the Salvation Army says it is engaged in a root-and-branch analysis of Bermuda?s social problems, in a bid to address them more effectively.

Maj. Doug Lewis took over from Maj. Lindsay Rowe in June. He and his wife Betty Anne both hail from Canada, and have worked in the Bahamas and Germany prior to Bermuda.

He is now in charge of all the charity?s services, including the oversubscribed Harbour Lights drug treatment programme, family services, a thrift store, a food bank, the 58-bed emergency housing complex in Pembroke and the Dreaming in Colour life skills programme.

He has launched a comprehensive review of these in order to determine exactly who is in need of assistance, and how this can best be provided.

?Are there people falling through the cracks that are not being looked after, and what can we do to help them?? he asked.

More than this, he hopes that in future the Salvation Army will be able to do more than simply help those in need, but also be able to prevent them needing assistance in the first place.

?We are finding that what we are doing is the initial ?Band Aid solution?. We want to go to the next step, and say ?why are people homeless? Is it because of education, is it job training, self esteem or is it life skills??,? he said.

In conjunction with the the Government?s sustainable development plan, the Salvation Army is trying to find out what the concept of ?affordable housing? actually means.

?Affordable to whom? To the working poor? Affordable to our street people? Affordable to people in the emergency housing? It?s helping to define what some of these categories are,? he explained.

He said that as part of this process, Salvation Army clients were being quizzed on what they felt they needed in order to get out of their situation of need and begin contributing to society.

The majority have responded that their problems stem from lack of money, this being the result of unemployment, which in itself also has a cause, he said.

?We keep backing up until we finally get to the root ? either they dropped out of school or they have no specific type of training or skill. So what do we do to help that?

?Is it a matter of us operating computer classes? Operating some sort of trade skill thing we can teach them? These are the kinds of things we are looking at,? he said.

The results of this research will be conveyed to Government through quarterly reports from the Salvation Army, which partially relies on state funding to support programmes such as Harbour Lights.

?They are continually in the loop, and of course as we inquire about additional funding we try to give them more reports of ?if we had X number of dollars we could do this,? he said.

Previous Salvation Army head Lindsay Rowe sparked controversy last year when he told that Government funding cuts meant programmes for addicts were under threat due to a $300,000 shortfall.

He also branded the the dilapidated emergency housing shelter an embarrassment.

Responding to the publicity, Health Minister Patrice Minors told the House of Assembly she was getting ?fed up? with the charity?s annual requests for more cash, and accused it of trying to ?repeatedly force our hands?.

She also said that Government had concerns about some Salvation Army programmes, and planned to put them out to tender.

Asked about this, Maj. Lewis said: ?Government are very supportive of us and we have a good working relationship with them.?

But he admitted: ?Funding is always an issue. It?s always a juggling act. I?m sure every non-profit organisation goes through that.?

Asked if programmes like Harbour Lights remained under threat, he said: ?We operate near the line. We don?t have a nest egg that?s saved up... It?s not like we have much in reserve. We live hand-to-mouth as far as the social programmes are concerned, so that?s why we are dependant to a large degree on the donations of the general public.?

In preparation for the submission of the next annual funding bid in spring 2007, Maj. Lewis has met with key people in Government including Premier Alex Scott and Minister Minors to ?build bridges? and explain that he wants to work as a team.

?We sow the seed every chance we get,? he said, going on to describe Mrs. Minors? comments as ?water under the bridge?.

?I?m sure those things get said in the House in the heat of battle. There?s no problem. We?ve got a good relationship with the Minister,? he said.

Government has done some temporary renovation work to the homeless shelter since its condition was highlighted last year and plans remain in the pipeline for a new facility. The choice of organisation to run this will be opened up to bids.

?Of course we will be submitting a proposal,? said Maj. Lewis, expressing hope that the current study regarding areas of need will be taken into account account before this process begins.

?I?m not sure if they have the cart before the horse. I?m not sure how they can build a building without knowing what programmes we need. They need us to put through a plan saying what we foresee ? if we need two teaching classrooms or a kitchen,? he said.

The Harbour Lights drug treatment programme currently has just ten beds, and a lengthy waiting list.

Lawyer Charles Richardson has been a particularly vocal critic of the lack of space, and the absence of a long-term drug treatment facility.

Speaking out about the matter at a Sustainable Development forum earlier this month Mr. Richardson remarked: ?I have always thought it ironic that when we have a fire like drug addiction raging in Bermuda, all we have used is buckets.?

Maj. Lewis said he understood the criticism.

?We need a long-term facility, no question,? he said, explaining that due to the short length of the programme only half of those who complete it first time around stay clean.

?The problem being that we turn them over so quickly,? he said, adding that the success rate is around 80 percent for those given a second chance.

Ideally, he said, a continuum of care would be offered through an addiction programme followed by job retraining, followed by supported housing and then affordable housing ? including support for those suffering mental health issues. This could be done through one organisation or a number of them, but would necessitate closer working together, he said. He believes that the future is bright in terms of this hope being realised.

?More and more as the general public is becoming more aware of the problem they are becoming more educated. Everyone will come on board and we will start rowing in the right direction,? he said.