A dilapidated hotel that has been operating as a boarding house for almost 60 mostly-working men is being closed down because it would cost $1.5 million to return it to a safe and insurable condition.

Residents have less than a month to find alternative arrangements before the run-down building is locked up for good.

In a Government attempt to find stop-gap accommodation for occupants of the Canadian Hotel on Reid Street, a building in Southside has been earmarked for urgent renovation to bring it to a habitable condition.

If that solution is not ready in time for the February 28 hotel closure the displaced single men may become temporary residents at the Regiment?s Warwick Camp.

When news of the imminent closure was broken to residents by the owner Thomas Powell, there was ?uproar? according to one resident who spoke to .

?People were startled and surprised and wanted to know what was being done. Mr. Powell said he had done everything that he could. I calmed some of the people down and told them that Mr. Powell had done what he could and brought them along this far and now it is up to us to deal with this,? said the resident, who has lived at the hotel for three years.

When told about the emergency plan announced by Health Minister Patrice Minors and Housing Minister Sen. David Burch, the resident said: ?My respect goes to Mr. Powell and the Government for trying to find us suitable accommodation. I?m glad Mr. Burch has come out and said there is a solution.?

Mr. Powell said little had been done to find better accommodation for the residents in past years, despite his bringing it to the Government?s attention on many occasions.

He said: ?I feel very badly that very little has been done in the housing situation. I?m aware of only two individuals (from the hotel) being placed by the Housing Corporation in the past four years and we have taken six or seven new residents from Social Services.?

Mr. Powell has plans for the hotel to be demolished and replaced with a seven-storey office block.

Both the Health and the Housing ministries have been holding talks with Mr. Powell since he approached Government in early January to inform them that he could no longer get the building insured for occupation because of health and safety defects.

Faced with having no liability cover beyond February 28, he turned to the Government for help.

Health Minister Patrice Minors said: ?For the past 20 years Mr. Powell has provided a valuable service to this community by making the facility available as a boarding house for about 56 men. Most of these men are working, contributing members of society and pay rent to stay at the hotel.?

An attempt had been made to have the insurance cover extended but this had not proved possible, said Mrs. Minors.

?The result is that the men who are staying at the hotel will have to find another place to live. Mr. Powell should be commended for his commitment to the welfare of the residents of the Canadian Hotel and for his actions in notifying the Government of the difficulties which were being faced.?

A permanent home for the men will come when the Government?s projected $28 million new homeless shelter is built in North Street with room to help 200 people.

Funding for that project is expected to be made available in the Budget to be announced later this month.

In the meantime, the displaced occupants of the hotel are likely to be housed in two floors of a Southside building which currently has emergency housing for families on the top floor.

Renovations to the Southside building were already planned but now take on more immediacy, said Sen. Burch.

?The facility at Southside will require some renovation but not to the extent that we had originally anticipated as we are dealing with an emergency situation,? he said.

He added that initial discussions had taken place with the commanding officer of the Bermuda Regiment with the view to making use of some of the facilities at Warwick Camp, in the interim, should Southside not be ready at the end of February.

?So there is a solution being worked on and as soon as we are in a position to be able to give a definitive answer we shall do so.

We will have full time solution in a matter of days,? said Sen. Burch, who said he believed the necessary improvements to the hotel to make it re-insurable were in the region of $1.5 million.

A resident of the hotel said a move to Southside should not prove to much of a problem for the residents, he added: ?I?ve been here three years. It has its advantages. The roof doesn?t leak and there is electricity and water. You can?t expect too much from something where you don?t pay much rent.

?Mr. Powell has played his part in housing these people and giving a roof over our heads but he can?t jeopardise his business over not having insurance.?