An increasing number of people in Bermuda - including children - are living on the breadline and even on the streets as soaring rents, low paying jobs, and social ills are squeezing them out of their homes.

The Salvation Army has reported seeing growing numbers of young children turning up for free soup on the food runs that were once predominantly aimed at feeding homeless older men.

In the last year, the charity's Lionel Cann, who feeds the homeless three nights a week on a soup run around Pembroke, said he had seen a big difference in the kind of people taking advantage of the free food.

"I have seen an increasing number of young children coming out to the soup truck for food, or their parents coming out for them," said Mr. Cann.

"I really think that people are working three and four jobs to make ends meet and many times they are still coming up short with money for the food."

An investigation by The Royal Gazette found that people were living on the Railway Trail, in makeshift shanty-towns in the back of town, in abandoned houses and on the beaches in tents.

Some families and single Some families and single women with children are moving from home to home, sleeping on floors and sofas of friends where ever they are welcome, and others have resorted to sleeping rough in cars.

Homeless workers, who have hands-on contact with these victims of poverty, have said the problems span the gamut, from the single mother or family who cannot afford to feed their children, to the man or woman who has a job but cannot afford to pay high rents.

And The Royal Gazette found people had become homeless because they had lost their jobs while others were substance abusers and were unable to hold down work. A few just preferred living in the great outdoors.

Hands of Love coordinator Fern Wade said she was finding more and more single-parent families who did not have enough to eat, and were turning to her agency for help.

She said she also fed the homeless every week and found that some stopped by at the Hands of Love centre on Camp Hill in Warwick, in the evening before they went to the railway trail to sleep.

"We deal with a lot of hungry people, including ten to 15 single parents working in the hotel industry only two to three days a week," said Ms Wade.

"They need to know how to budget their money and how to prioritise. But saving is out of the question."

Ms Wade said: "Many have lived on the beaches, on benches, in the parks and around City Hall - we find single women and families sleeping in cars because they couldn't find an apartment," she added. "People are also living in abandoned houses.

"People are living one pay cheque away from homelessness. But Government doesn't care because the homeless cannot vote."

Mr. Cann said the number of homeless people often increased as the weather improved.

"People who are either staying in shelters, and don't like the rules, or people living in with others, begin to live outside," said Mr. Cann. "At the moment, I feed on average about 30 to 35 homeless people a night.

"I want to clear up the fact that everyone I see may not necessarily be homeless. Some are on the street washing cars, some prefer to be out there for one reason or the other, others can't pay rent, some are suffering from substance abuse and their families have run out of options.

"I have been doing this for the past four years and the situation on the one hand is just about stable, I've seen the same people for some time.

"But there seems to be an increase in the amount of women and young people who are becoming homeless.

"Some have also come in to the Harbour Light drug rehab programme.

"I don't know why this is, whether our young people feel disenfranchised because of the education system or whether it is low self-esteem, but they are displaced."

The Salvation Army's soup run primarily caters to the Hamilton parks, Albouy's Point, Par-la-Ville Park and Victoria Park.

"I don't go into the areas; I blow the horn and they come out," said Mr. Cann, who has never missed a run.

"There are a lot of people here who work and cannot afford to pay rent, or they lost their job and then lost their apartment - and finding another apartment is difficult.

"Homelessness is happening to so many hard working people.

"I enjoy this work - it's stressful and I don't know what the answers are, and I can't define the help because the situation is so complex."