Amid claims from the Housing Minister that the silence of Anchorage Road residents meant his plan was a success, one former resident has finally broken spoken out about the way she was treated by the Bermuda Housing Corporation.

Eight months after being relocated from her home, Althea Iris, who is also the president of Single Parents in Action, said she is still getting over the trauma of the demolition of her home.

?It?s like someone stepping on your toe,? she said. ?When they get off it?s not so bad. But it still hurts. When they did what they did to us, it was not a good feeling.?

Last week Housing Minister Ashfield DeVent said he was pleased with the progression of construction at Anchorage Road.

?None of them were put out on the street. And after all of that noise you don?t hear anything about it at this point,? he said.

?I?m quite happy with the work that?s going on down there,? he said.

He also said he was looking forward to the July 2006 completion date when there would be ?brand new and improved 16 units for people?.

However, Opposition Senate Leader Kim Swan said Government had mistreated the residents by breaking up their community. ?Renovating those places was on the cards a long time ago before it was commenced,? he said. ?I would have felt a lot better had the commitment to a community been there before the renovations.?

Mrs. Iris said Mr. DeVent never came to speak to her while she was at Anchorage Lane.

?Apparently he got the flu,? she said. ?Mr. DeVent feels justified because no one has complained. But when your life is not your own, you don?t have a whole lot to say. He is supposed to be my representative. He has to hear me, even if he has made up his own mind. He must treat people with respect. People are not able to respect the powers of politics.?

She said the residents had the right to protest the loss of their homes and livelihoods.

Another long-standing Anchorage Road tenant has been re-homed on Tommy Fox Road, St. David?s, she said.

?Her son is 20 now and had been living at Anchorage since he was born,? Mrs. Iris said. ?He and his baby moved out of Anchorage too.?

However, not all of the Anchorage Road residents were able to find homes in St. George?s, where most have spent all of their lives.

Olivette Robinson was located out of her native St. George?s into a home in Warwick with her two sons. And Laverne Scott, now living in Hamilton parish was upset that her furniture was damaged during the move.

?At least we went down with a fight,? Mrs. Iris said.