Help is out there for those who need it, MP Michael Weeks yesterday reminded people struggling in his Pembroke East Central constituency.

With growing numbers of residents unable to get jobs and reduced to living in tents and smashed up old cars, Mr. Weeks pointed to the value of Government's Financial Assistance Department, Labour and Training Department and Bermuda Housing Corporation.

"We have to get the message out there to the people who need it that we have helping agencies," Mr. Weeks told The Royal Gazette.

Regarding Labour and Training, he said: "The Minister of Labour and Home Affairs [Senator David Burch] has said when places like Elbow Beach close down they look to hire a Bermudian first.

"It makes it easier if you put your name down so you can have first dibs on the jobs that become available."

He said the Financial Assistance Department was designed to help those with the most severe money difficulties, while people in need of homes could put their names on the BHC waiting list.

Mr. Weeks said a number of projects are on the way to help people in his constituency, which some have described as the most hard-up and gang-plagued area in the Country.

The most imminent will be an attempt to ease fear of crime by introducing street lights in dark areas.

Mr. Weeks is the Island's newest MP, having replaced the late Nelson Bascome in the Progressive Labour Party stronghold last August.

Since then there has been a string of shootings as the Island's gun problems have soared.

"It's been a learning experience," he said. "I have been trying to answer the cry from people and direct them to helping agencies, trying to comfort where I can and reassure them about the situation."