A woman has claimed that single mothers living in a BHC property in Southside are "living like refugees".

And although the woman said she and her two children have no where left to go and were living in a guest house last night, she was still happy to be out of the property.

Mother of two Shalita Steede was taken to court, evicted and forced to stay in a guest house because she had "no place else to go".

Ms Steed readily admitted to owing BHC $4,000 in unpaid rent, but said that the father of her oldest son was "not doing what he is supposed to".

"It's like a prison down there ? like we are refugees. My mother and son could not even visit me over there. They set up a place downstairs for visitors. They have visiting hours, it's like a prison.

"The matron walks down the hall jangling her keys. One girl had a nightmare. She heard the keys and jumped up because she thought she was back in prison," she said.

She said she was glad to be out of St. David's but did not know where she was going to stay after yesterday, when her time at the guest house was up.

"I take it one day at a time," she said.

Her friend, who has three children aged four, ten and 11, has also been given a seven day eviction notice from BHC and also does not know where to go.

"Yes, I fell back in my rent, but I have an older son who lives with me and the father does not do what he is supposed to do. BHC gave me an eviction notice of seven days and put a writ in the paper against me.

"I got a letter from (law firm) Trott & Duncan that said I had to go to court the following Thursday. I was supposed to be out the next day, but they gave me an extra week.

"(St. David's area MP) Suzanne (Roberts-Holshouser) tried to get money from a church for me, but I just gave up. I moved out on Wednesday," Ms Steede said.

"My children are a lot happier in the guest house. The children are calm and collected and relaxed. In Southside they were fighting."

She said her only chance was for the owner of the guest house to let her stay past yesterday. She said she was paying $100 per night there. At Southside she was paying from $540 per month for a single bedroom apartment or $810 per month for a double.

Ms Steede said that she did not fall behind that much in arrears: "BHC have got to be hiding something".

She said when she was at Southside, there were 14 women and nine children living there.

"There were over 20 rooms on each floor but only the first floor was occupied. There was no place for children to play. They would run up and down the hallway and the matron would tell them off.

Former PLP activist, Raymond Russell who quit the party last week said that he "didn't work 24-7 on the Housing Minister's campaign to give him the power to evict single mothers".

Mr. Russell was Housing Minister Ashfield DeVent's campaign manager at the last election.

"The buck should always stop with the Minister. Not Col. Burch, not the manager of the BLDC, but the Minister. Rent should be done on a sliding scale, so that at minimum tenants maintain ten to 25 percent of their income.

"I'm just not feeling right about it. They shouldn't be evicting mothers. I'm sure the Premier's social agenda doesn't include single mothers staying in Government apartments.

"Also, Social Services have to do a better job too ? they evict these mothers then take their kids away from them, which obviously really messes up the kids. They become social rejects. There's got to be more compassion for people," Mr. Russell said.