resources with which she has to work.

Social Worker of the Year Renee Brown admitted this in an interview with The Royal Gazette yesterday.

Mrs. Brown is the lone social worker in the Bermuda Housing Corporation (BHC).

She works closely with the financial assistance office in trying to secure housing for her clients.

"I only meet with those who have financial need with regard to housing and with Housing Corporation tenants, in an effort to keep the units tenable,'' she explained.

"The problems tenants call me for range from lack of funds to carrying out repairs to their homes, to simply not having enough money,'' Mrs. Brown noted.

"I often have to help people budget.'' Taken on at the BHC straight from her return to the Island from college, Mrs.

Brown has been in the post for eight years.

In her college training she specialised in child protection. Finding no job openings in that area, she went to the Housing Corporation and she said she has no immediate plans to leave.

"Seeing the help I have given to families actually materialise is a great satisfaction to me,'' Mrs. Brown said. "Going through the process from eviction to the conclusion where the family move into a home is gratifying.

"I do sometimes feel the stress of the work,'' she admitted. "Many of the situations are so complex and as the years have progressed the cases have increased not only in number, but also complexity.'' Through it all, Mrs. Brown appears optimistic that more can and will be done to ease the crisis.

"Right now Government is working hard to ease the problem,'' she said.

"While I cannot offer any details, they are actively pursuing a few initiatives.'' Unable to give any indication into the numbers of families or individuals on the BHC's "urgent list'', Mrs. Brown holds that her workload at the moment is "manageable''.

"I could see on a monthly basis between 40 and 50 clients,'' she pointed out, "and I do get support from rental officers in the department.'' Clearly delighted that she was picked as Social Worker of the Year, Mrs. Brown said the award was a complete surprise to her.

The announcement came at a luncheon of the Bermuda Social Work Council at the Palmetto Bay Hotel on March 28. More than two hundred members of the Council cast their votes.

"I was overwhelmed by the decision,'' Mrs. Brown admitted. "I don't like being in the spotlight. I don't like being interviewed, but I was honoured to have been selected by my peers.''