Housing Minister Senator David Burch yesterday stuck to his guns in his hard line against rent arrears after evicting a family with eight-year-old debts.

Col. Burch said he would not entertain tenants of the Bermuda Housing Corporation (BHC) if they made no attempt to pay off previous rent arrears, while also paying their current rent on time.

The Minister spoke out after Edward Van Putten complained to The Royal Gazette that he, his wife and 18-year-old daughter had been put out of their St. George's BHC home because they were behind in their rent.

But Mr. Van Putten said he suffered chronic heart problems, having endured a triple heart by-pass two years ago, and was unable to work.

And he said his wife worked in the hotel industry and was not making enough money through the winter months to support the family.

But Col. Burch said he would not take feeble excuses, and said the majority of the debt dated back to 1996.

The Minister said: "He owes us $8,588. About $5,000 dates back to 1996, and the rest goes back to August last year.

"We had a court order possessing the previous property, and Mr. Van Putten went back into the private sector, but then came back into our system again. Under our current system, he would not have qualified for getting on our lists again because he did nothing to address his arrears.

"It's gone up from $5,000 to $8,000, so, as a result, he has been evicted."

Col. Burch said BHC had offered to house Mr. Van Putten's wife and daughter at facilities in Southside, but they had declined.

But Mr. Van Putten yesterday said neither him nor his family wanted to stay in temporary facilities, and simply wanted to have a home again.

He said his health was not good, and he feared the stress of the situation might have drastic effects. Mr. Van Putten said he had received increased financial assistance the first two months of this year, and was due to receive the same in March, and would be re-assessed in April.

He said he made some attempt to pay off the arrears on a weekly basis in January, but found BHC unresponsive and was evicted on February 4.

Mr. Van Putten, 59, said he believed the debt dating back to 1996 should have expired by now, but said he should be able to just work towards the recent arrears, before having to concentrate on the old ones.

"My rent is $800, but in January, after we were given the increased financial assistance, we paid $1,200," said Mr. Van Putten.

"We tried to pay off some of the debt, but they said I did not comply back in 1995. I asked them not to worry about the $5,000 and let me pay off the recent debt first, but they said `no'.

"Now we are living nowhere. We are sleeping in a tent sometimes, and at a friend's house sometimes. All of our belongings are on the porch of the house we left. We have nothing else to do."

Mr. Van Putten said both he and his wife and child had been offered space at shelters, but they did not want to take them.

He added: "I'm 59 years-old. I'm not staying in any shelter with drug addicts or whatever.

"I'm chronically ill, where are we supposed to go. If I don't have an address, I won't get any financial assistance in April. It's a catch 22. I was going to use the money from financial assistance to pay off the arrears."

But Sen. Burch said he did not know about the increased financial assistance until February 13, when he met with Mr. Van Putten.

But that aside, he said the family had to make a more committed effort to paying off the debts if they were to stay as BHC tenants.

He added: "The problem with Mr. Van Putten is that, having made no attempt to address the 1996 arrears, we are not obliged to accept piecemeal.

"He received money from financial assistance in January and February and was instructed to pay $866 a month towards his rent. He chose not to do so.

"Under the current policy of the corporation, if you have been a tenant and you get arrears and do not make any attempt to address those previous arrears, you can't come back on our list. He obviously came back on before that policy was instituted, but throwing a little bit of change at us is not sufficient to have us back down.

"Yes, he did pay some money off in January, but he is still $2,200 in arrears on his rental now. We have people in worse situations than him and his family, but those people pay their current rent and they pay something towards their arrears consistently.

"They are consistently making an effort. We don't have that in this case."