It is one thing to say that you are going to get tough on public housing tenants who are in arrears. It's quite another to do it when the human cost of such a crackdown becomes clear.

That occurred yesterday when The Royal Gazette reported on a woman and her pregnant teenage daughter who face imminent eviction from their Bermuda Housing Corporation home for non-payment of rent.

And seen through tenant Tina Simons' eyes alone, it does seem heart-rending that she and her daughter, and the soon to be born child, are facing life on the street.

"My daughter is expecting any day now," Ms Simons said. "We don't have anywhere to go. I am pleading for help."

The truth is that Ms Simons has been offered a great deal of help.

As he promised when he announced the crackdown on tenants in arrears, Housing Minister Sen. David Burch did publicly discuss her case, something that previous Ministers have been reluctant to do in similar situations to save the tenants' from embarrassment.

In Ms Simons' case, she had racked up $11,000 in rent arrears in just over two years while living in the $890-a-month one-bed apartment. That means that she had failed to pay her rent about half the time she was a tenant.

She was also offered financial assistance from Government for the periods when she was laid off from her housekeeping job but refused to disclose details about her financial circumstances.

Had she been prepared to do that, she would have received the help she certainly seems to need.

Furthermore, Sen. Burch said, Ms Simons turned down accommodation at rooming houses for mothers and children in Southside because it had a communal bathroom and kitchen.

When all the facts are known, it seems clear that the Housing Corporation and other Government agencies have done everything they can to help Ms Simons. She has been offered financial help and she has been offered accommodation, which while it may not be perfect, is a chance for her and her family to get themselves back on their feet.

And while it never ceases to amaze that this type of get-tough approach is being done by a labour party government Minister, that does not mean it is wrong. Sen. Burch is guarding the public purse while doing whatever can be done to help people in need.

No government can be in the business of handing out money or housing willy nilly to those who ask for it. It is responsible to the whole community to ensure that it is spent wisely and prudently.

Nor can a government be expected to solve every problem of every citizen. It does have a responsibility to help those people who, through no fault of their own, have run into difficulties.

But citizens have responsibilities too. They need to take responsibility for their own lives and choices. They need to recognise that the help they are being offered is not an entitlement and that if they turn it down they have no right to complain. And they need to recognise that almost everyone needs to make sacrifices in order to improve their lives.