Living conditions at Lefroy House remain abysmal, despite a longstanding call from the Opposition for Government to take action.

“As far as I know the only people (from Government) that have been there since yesterday were people from Government's financial assistance department,” said Opposition MP Louise Jackson, who raised the alarm months ago and again at a recent House of Assembly sitting.

But she reported that many people had responded to Press coverage with offers and gifts of supplies such as couches, food and pillowcases.

“There's been a great swell of sympathy. But nothing from the Government unless they were up there today,” she said last week.

“I'm still very very concerned about the fact that Government has taken little or no interest at all in this problem.

“If it's a charity which has gone wrong somehow Government really is responsible under the Charities Act for monitoring financial statements and activities going on and in the final analysis they are responsible for the care and protection of Bermudians particularly those who are mentally challenged as the clients at Hope Homes are.

“I think it's totally reprehensible that a Government knowing the conditions of this home would allow these mentally challenged Bermudians to remain in a situation that is uninhabitable for human beings.”

Hope Homes, which is headquartered on Brunswick Street and caters to the needs of mentally handicapped people, moved its residents to Lefroy House some three years ago.

Mrs. Jackson has been complaining about conditions there since December. The 14 mentally handicapped residents are living in “substandard, miserable demoralising conditions at Lefroy”, Mrs. Jackson said.

The residents have to share four bedrooms, one toilet, one broken basin and one tub and shower. Walls in the bedroom have been attacked by mould and badly needed painting, and some of the residents are sleeping on bare mattresses on the floor, she said last month.

Health Minister Patrice Minors has yet to return phone messages seeking comment. But she told the Mid-Ocean News last week that Government had offered temporary accommodations to the residents free of charge, and that the facility was a private nursing home and not for the housing and care of the mentally challenged.

She added that the physical plant in the part of the Lefroy complex owned by Government was not the responsibility of her Ministry.

“Am I crazy or is she saying that the Ministry of Health and Social Services is not responsible for the hospital building or nursing homes or Lefroy House or the Cottage which belongs to government on Lefroy House property... ?” Mrs.Jackson said.

“She is also saying that Government offered the residents a place to stay free of charge. What they are saying is they are not going to take care of the residents but they will give them a place to stay. Since when are people who are, I would say wards of the country, be charged rent?

“Obviously the people are indigent and to say they are allowing them to stay free of charge is absolutely absurd.”

She added: “Government is aware that Bermudians are in a dangerous, unhealthy, uninhabitable situation. It is their duty to see that they are living in a safe, healthy environment. And mentally challenged Bermudians deserve the care and protection of their Government.”