POVERTY is on the increase in Bermuda ? even though many people on the island are in denial and politicians tend to steer well clear of the "p" word.

Rocketing housing costs have, more than any other single factor, plunged more Bermudian families into an economic underclass that is spawning an angry generation of disaffected children.

That is the view of Sheelagh Cooper, of the Coalition for the Protection of Children (CPC), an organisation in the front line of the battle against poverty, but struggling in the face of rising demand.

This week, her phone was ringing off the hook, with many parents ? especially young single mothers ? calling for help because they had no money to buy school uniforms for their children who started the new academic year on Wednesday.

But many have problems even more severe than that.

"We know people who have to decide between buying food for their children and paying the rent," Ms Cooper said. "We have a stock of non-perishable food here because so many of our clients would otherwise go hungry."

To that large segment of the population enjoying the fruits of a booming economy, poverty in Bermuda might seem a strange concept. That same economy, with its rapidly rising cost of living, is leaving those at the bottom of the pile to drift further behind. And it's not only the unemployed who are suffering.

Sherri Simmons, Ms Cooper's colleague at the CPC, said: "Nine out of every ten people who come here for help have jobs. They are the working poor. They work in industries that don't pay decent wages or don't give them enough hours to make a living."

Ms Cooper estimated that the CPC was currently helping around 600 families. And the level of need is constantly increasing.

"Statistics on average income are skewed by this enormous wealth we see in Bermuda," she said. "If you put 20 homeless women in a room and Bill Gates walks in, the average income of those people is $50 million a year.

"If you look at black Bermudians in the bottom quartile, then you see the real story of poverty in Bermuda. The gap between the wealthy and the poor has widened significantly over the last ten years.

"We are seeing people working hard who are being paid such low wages that they cannot pay the bills. I'm talking about pot washers, gardeners, waiters and general labourers. Some people doing these jobs are actually work permit holders.

"Of course, Bermudians can do these jobs, but they can't afford to live on the wages that these jobs pay. That's why you can't find a Bermudian to serve you at a Hamilton restaurant these days."

Ms Cooper knew of one swish Front Street restaurant which paid its waiters $4 an hour, plus tips.

"They bring in foreign staff and provide accommodation in cheap, dense, low-quality housing, owned by the employers. Those workers can afford to live on that pay, only because they don't need to worry about housing costs.

"I don't think the Government should be granting work permits for jobs that Bermudians are capable of doing and would be willing to do, if they were paid a living wage."

She knew of Bermudians who were working for major hotels for $500 a week ? after the rent was taken out, little was left for anything else.

"There are many more people who are one pay cheque away from homelessness, even some who work at banks and in international business. The biggest single reason is the cost of housing."

CPC has teamed up with Habitat for Humanity Bermuda to undertake a study on poverty on the island, entitled . One of its aims is to come up with a figure for a realistic minimum wage for Bermuda. Based on information from Government departments, quangos, project managers, charities and churches, as well as 15 focus groups working with homeless families, the study's initial findings make stark reading.

Key facts include:

32 per cent of black Bermudians are at or below the poverty line.

The average Bermudian pays 33 cents of every dollar of income on housing, while close to a third pay 60 per cent of their income.

Bermuda's rate of home ownership is 51 per cent, compared to 69 per cent in the US and 70 per cent in the UK.

Average rents for available advertised properties in Bermuda in 2005 were $2,245 per month for a non-executive, one-bedroom apartment and $3,408 for a two-bedroom apartment.

There has been a 90 per cent increase in housing costs since 1993, but only a 62 per cent increase in weekly household income for middle-income Bermudians.

Ms Cooper sees the human face of the poverty behind those statistics every day in her role with the CPC. Although there is a Government safety net in place, dozens of people were slipping through it.

"There are three organisations that are supposed to help people in need ? the Bermuda Housing Corporation, to help people find homes, the Financial Assistance Department, to help people pay for those homes, and the Department of Family Services, to assist families who are having problems functioning," Ms Cooper said.

"Government claims it has a programme to enable these agencies to work together, but that does not seem to be working in reality."

SHE described how all three agencies were actually working against one of her clients, a single mother of three, who was evicted by the BHC, owing more than $20,000 in rental arrears, and who could not do her job as a cleaner because of a serious case of tennis elbow that required surgery and rest.

"The BHC is taking her to court and trying to put her in prison, Financial Assistance has turned away her applications for help and so she has no income, and Family Services are trying to take her children from her and put them in foster care," Ms Cooper said.

"Where is the help there? She would be better off without any of them. Charitable agencies like the CPC are the only place people like that can come."

The ultimate safety net is the BHC's emergency housing accommodation in St. David's. But even the policies there work against some of the most needy people on the island, many of whom are single-parent families.

Ms Simmons said: "The emergency housing is always chock-a-bloc, but there are some rules which make things very difficult for families there. For example, the rent is $850 a month and that's just for a room.

"No parent is allowed to look after a child from another family there and no babysitters are allowed in the complex. So how are single mothers supposed to be able to go out to work in order to pay the rent?

"Another policy is that no male child over the age of ten is allowed to live there. We have approached the BHC in recent months and spoken with Major Glenn Brangman to argue that these policies, which are working against our clients, need to be revamped. We have received a good response and hope to see changes soon."

Ms Cooper said the law was not tough enough on deadbeat dads who did not help out their children financially.

"Many times we see the father let off when he has not paid child support. And the mother ends up going to prison because she cannot afford the family's rent."

She added she sometimes had doubts about her efforts to help those not helped by the Government.

"We are doing work that, in many cases, the Government should be doing," she said. "Sometimes I worry that the work I do is doing nothing to change the fundamental, systemic problems. I worry that by helping people, I am helping a bad system look good ? but we just cannot turn away people in need.

"The demand is getting greater and the money to help people has to come from somewhere. And we are not a bottomless pit."

THE draft Sustainable Development document, , which was published in June this year, stated that there were 750 households on the island receiving receiving Government financial assistance and another 236 receiving housing subsidies.

It states: "It is clear from the consultation that a portion of the Bermudian population feels marginalised by the current economic growth, which is in part responsible for driving up accommodation costs.

"They blame international business and guest workers and this leads to xenophobia and resentment. If you've given up hope of making it in your own country, or you're excluded from the economy for any number of reasons, be it educational qualifications or not socialising in the right circles, the temptation to behave badly can be strong."

Shadow Housing Minister Kim Swan said people doing well out of the island's economy know poverty is there, but prefer simply to avoid the issue.

"It's almost like a taboo, because of the affluence that exists for many people," Sen. Swan said. "This country really needs to appreciate the critical stage in which a very large section of the community finds itself."

Sen. Swan has repeatedly raised the figure that came out of the 2000 Census ? that 30 per cent of households were described as "poor or near poor" ? and makes no apologies for continuing to beat the drum. And he has called for the Government to update its statistics on poverty, because he believes the problem is likely to be getting even worse.

"The real concern is that six years on and after an economic boom period in the insurance industry, following 9-11 and then following Hurricane Katrina, the problem could be even more serious," he said.

"That's because Bermuda's economy has more than likely benefited from the reorganisation following those disasters and so the income level under which someone is described as poor will have increased. What, in real terms, is the definition of poor or near poor in Bermuda now?"

In the past, Bermudians were inclined to help other in times of struggle, said Sen. Swan, but times and attitudes had changed.

"Bermuda is very materialistic now and a lot of people who are surviving look down on those who are struggling, as if there's something wrong with them," he said. "Yet, in some cases they're only two or three pay cheques away from being in the same situation."backs Sen. Swan's call for more accurate and up-to-date figures on poverty. The document states that the Department of Financial Assistance now uses an allowable expenses schedule to set the minimum needs and expenses for different types of households. And without solid guidelines, judgements on individual cases are left for officials to make.

"However, objective, empirical data is needed to formalise the use of poverty thresholds and to track trends in income disparity," the document states.

IT adds: "The current data on poverty is scant. Median incomes are used to define poverty for statistical purposes with no regard to size or type of household." Regularly updated figures could better policy-making to help those at the bottom of the economic ladder, it concludes.

Ms Cooper praised the Sustainable Development team for the report ? but felt it was crucial for Government to act on the findings.

"They did an excellent job of identifying the needs," she said.

"It's a very good start. Now we have to decide how much of it Bermuda is willing to act upon. The situation is too serious to just pay lip service."