Many Bermudians are only one pay cheque away from homelessness, according to people who are living on the street.

And they say that they do not fit the stereotype of alcoholics or drug addicts living as beggars.

Instead they are people who have lost their jobs and been caught in a downward spiral - or they are working people who simply cannot find an affordable place to live.

One man, who only wants to be known as Mr. Richardson, said he was not homeless, but house-less.

He lost his job just over a year ago, as a kitchen porter, although he added that he was a qualified chef.

After going through ups and downs and a bout of depression, he tried to commit suicide, and has lived on park benches and has endured many hardships over the past 13 months.

He claimed he was a responsible tenant and always paid his rent on time, but all of a sudden he was without work and without a home.

Mr. Richardson said: "Most of us are only one pay cheque from becoming homeless.

"After becoming homeless, I tried to commit suicide by taking a huge amount of painkillers, but something spoke to me."

After coming out of the hospital, he slept on park benches. One night while sleeping in Par-la-Ville Park near the library, he woke to find what looked like a 17-year-old boy right beside him.

"The teenager lit up his crack pipe right next to me and was so casual about it," he said. "The teenagers that are homeless seem to range in age from 16 and up and are living all over the place.

"In Par-la-Ville Park there are around 20 or so men and near the Corporation of Hamilton there are around another ten or so."

Mr. Richardson said there once were lots of places that single men could stay like the building next to the Washington Mall, the Imperial Hotel and the Canadian Hotel.

Now there is only the Canadian Hotel, but it has a bad reputation, he said. And it too is slated for demolition.

Before he became homeless he went to Financial Assistance to ask for help but he said the staff were unfriendly.

"I went in to ask for help for one month - not an ongoing handout," he said.

"I was then told to come the next day for a $50 food voucher, but when I came they told me the woman was on vacation and then I was told that she wasn't seeing anyone - finally I became very frustrated and said don't waste my time.

"They had told me that I had a surplus of $1,200 - I told them to show it to me, because I don't have any food.

"I found at Social Assistance that if you are a man with no kids or a male period, they don't want to help you."

He said his experience with the Salvation Army was not much different.

"You have to go through a whole pile of red tape, unless you are hung up on drugs," said Mr. Richardson.

Mr. Richardson also asked for help at the Bermuda Industrial Union, having been a member for 30 years, but was told because he had not paid his last few dues that he was not eligible for help.

"Some days I would get on a bus and ride it from Dockyard to St. George's in order to get some sleep," said Mr. Richardson. "I know in prison, there is a free bed and food, and you could do well in prison, but I have never been and I never want to go.

"At the moment, I believe in sleeping in a different parish, because it is safer that way - it's a matter of survival.

"It's not easy being homeless, you have to carry your life on your back like your passport and other documents.

"People think that homeless people have no value, as if you don't matter or you are just another statistic. But we were part of the working society and we contributed and we deserve to have our dignity."

@EDITRULE:

The Royal Gazette met 55-year-old Randolf Allen on the Railway Trail between Cobbs Hill in Warwick, and Ord Road in Paget.

Surrounding him were rays of sunlight, which filtered through the trees and bounced off brimming green trash bags, pots, kettles, see-through tarpaulins and clear plastic containers filled with enough stagnant water to breed a colony of mosquitoes.

Mr. Allen, unlike the other individuals interviewed, said he was not homeless but lived in the Ord Road area. He said he only stopped to make a cup of tea.

He was sitting on a discarded up-turned paint bucket, smoking a rolled up cigarette, as he waited for the kettle to boil.

"I am not homeless, I just like to come out here to get away from it all - it's nice and quiet and I like to be at one with nature," said Mr. Allen.

"I am at home in Bermuda - I am just passing through."

However, his camp was prepared for almost any eventuality. He had bottles of uncooked oats and rice and a waiting upturned pot.

Also on hand was a large clear piece of plastic, just in case it rained.

He claimed he had had an accident years ago and now he does not do things like everyone else.

He said: "I sit out here during the day on different occasions and stay for a while - I don't get around much - I sit and listen to my radio. I don't cause any trouble to anyone."

@EDITRULE:

Jane - not her real name - and her eight-year-old son sleep with a roof over their heads but do not have a home to call their own since being evicted from their Bermuda Housing Corporation home almost a year ago for failing to pay the rent.

Instead they move from one friend's home to another, sleeping on floors and sofas, while trying to save enough money for a down payment on an apartment.

Yesterday Jane thought she had secured a one-bedroom apartment, only to be told by the landlord that she could not have it.

When she was evicted from her BHC home, she was earning $400 a week and her rent was $900 a month.

"I found that I would put money aside for the bills and rent, but if I went grocery shopping that would be the end of the money," she said.

She is currently working and trying to get on top of her back bills, but she would just like for them to have a place where they can call home.

@EDITRULE:

Tent City, also known as Car World, on Parsons Road may be the closest thing to a shanty town that Bermuda has.

Many of the people there work, but say they do not earn enough to pay rent and instead live in cars or tents or shacks.

Also in the area was a wooden lean-to big enough for a single mattress, two pitbulls in kennels, several mattresses strewn across the ground and a growing mountain of debris in the middle of it all.

"There are a lot of people here who work and cannot afford to pay rent," said the man. "This is happening to so many people hard working people.

"We are not bad people, we just don't have a place to live - most of the men here a single men. Of the men here, not all have jobs and some are also drug addicts, but not all of us."

Tomorrow: Government's role in ending homelessness