Lodge Point tenants are outraged after a roof collapsed on Tuesday night, almost burying a wheelchair-bound woman.

The near tragedy occurred despite repeated appeals by the tenants to have the West End Development Corporation repair the property.

The house was severely damaged in Hurricane Fabian and ever since Lodge Point tenant Raymond Croston said he and neighbour Debbie Bean, who had similar damages, had been trying to get Wedco to the site to make repairs on the roof.

However they were unsuccessful, and on Tuesday night after several days of rain, the roof in Mr. Croston?s unit finally gave way and caved in over a bedroom. Pieces fell on the bed, with at least one hitting Mr. Croston?s wife, who is in a wheelchair.

Ms Bean said it is just a matter of time before the same happens in her house.

?I have already banned my family from going upstairs,? she said. ?Should any of the families get hurt because of their lack of action, we?re going to take it further.?

Mr. Croston said when he served on the Dockyard Housing Committee two years ago, the committee suggested to Mr. Telford that emergency housing needed to be available should it become necessary, however nothing was ever done about the situation.

?Now it?s life or death. We need emergency housing,? he said. After the hurricane Mr. Croston said he did approach Mr. Telford about three properties in the Dockyard area which he thought would be available for emergency housing.

He said Mr. Telford told him two were in fact unavailable. However the third, Cottage Three, which was the former temporary residence of the Governor, had someone staying in it ? and once that person left, Mr. Croston said, Mr. Telford told him he could move in.

However when the property became available about two weeks ago, Mr. Croston was told he was not allowed to move his family in to the property. No explanation was given.

Instead another officer of Wedco was put in charge of the problem and eventually did find some emergency housing for Mr. Croston and his family of six, including an eight-year old child and his wheelchair bound wife: a two-bedroom apartment which was not wheelchair accessible. ?My wife couldn?t manoeuvre through the hallway,? said Mr. Croston. ?We can?t live like that.?

Emergency housing was also found for Ms Bean and her family, in a house with leaks and evidence of asbestos. When Ms Bean protested, even bringing in a contractor on her own to assess the damage for Wedco so she could send the bid to Mr. Telford, she had no response.

When Mr. Croston applied for further help from Wedco he was told that the company had found him emergency housing and he had turned it down. ?They said, ?Now you?re on your own.??

Mr. Croston and Ms Bean then attempted to meet with Premier Alex Scott about the problem, and were told Mr. Scott was meeting with Wedco that week on other matters and would resolve the issue then. The meeting was to take place on Friday. Mr. Croston received a call Friday from then-Acting Minister of Works & Engineering Neletha Butterfield to tell him the Ministry was doing what it could. At the time, Mr. Croston said: ?I told her the roof would be coming down on us one day.?

Four days later his prediction came true. ?I think that Wedco and the Ministry of Works & Engineering should look into this as soon as possible to resolve the problem,? said Shadow Housing Minister Wayne Furbert, who contacted about the story.

Mr. Furbert added he understood there were properties available, including the Governor?s former temporary residence of Cottage Three. ?There are properties these tenants can move to temporarily until Wedco gets this property under control. It is important that they deal with it immediately.?

Mr. Telford yesterday declined to comment.