Government is not doing enough to help the Island's homeless, a charity worker said yesterday.

Eliza Doolittle Society co-chairman Toppy Cowen said he believed the problem was "getting out of control" and backed up calls by City of Hamilton officials for a Government-funded shelter that provides vagrants with a place to stay during the day and night.

"Government seems to have ignored the social outcasts in Bermuda," he said. "People are sleeping in doorways like animals and they haven't addressed the situation."

And Bermuda Association for the Mentally Handicapped volunteer Stanley Ratteray pointed to the need for a "purpose-built" centre at which homeless people with mental illnesses can be treated and looked after.

Mr. Cowen referred to an article in yesterday's Royal Gazette in which Corporation of Hamilton Secretary Roger Sherratt said the homeless problem in the city seemed to be getting worse and that the homeless population seemed to be getting younger.

"We've definitely missed something if some of these people are 19 or 20. Can you imagine where they will be in 20 years time if they are at this stage now?"

Mr. Cowen asked for Government to help with funding for his organisation and suggested that the money should be used for a drop-in centre "which would provide these people with an incentive to come in off the streets and get some help".

He said: "We need a place where homeless people can come in and watch television and get something to eat, and where they can also get counselling services or help with drug problems. We hope that this would be a place they would want to come to and stay at, rather than sleeping in the parks."

Mr. Cowen added: "This problem is like a festering soar. Until it is treated, it isn't going to go away. There is just nothing happening at the moment though and the responsibility for that lies solely in the Government's lap."

He said he agreed with Corporation of Hamilton Secretary Roger Sherratt that the numbers of homeless people on the streets seems to be increasing.

"It's going to take the support of Government to do something about it. We can't just leave people to do what they are doing. There are people who have nothing. When you reach the bottom the barrel it is a completely down and out situation."

Mr. Ratteray said he would like to see a "purpose-built" centre for homeless people who have mental illnesses.

"We don't believe in warehousing. These are people that we are dealing with and we have to provide them with the appropriate facilities to help them with their problems," he said. "It doesn't do just to keep them out of sight and out of mind."