The funding crisis engulfing the Salvation Army can be laid bare today, as the organisation warned its crumbling homeless shelter had to be ?condemned? and replaced fast and its drug treatment programme faced the axe.

In a stark warning, Major Lindsay Rowe said life-saving help offered to homeless addicts through the Harbour Lights project was in serious jeopardy without extra Government cash.

In the wake of the news $1.5 million had been set aside to revamp the Premier?s new house at Clifton, toured the Salvation Army?s Marsh Lane homeless base.

Given a ten-year life-span when built 30 years ago, the prefab shelter was yesterday branded a ?national embarrassment?.

Major problems with the rotting structure, the only safety net of its kind serving the Island?s homeless, included:

Gaping holes in flimsy plywood walls.

Chunks of roof caving in.

Pipes hanging off walls.

Tissue paper plugging gaps in the roof, so rain does not pour on beds.

Wooden floors rotting away.

Eight people sharing a room.

Ageing showers and toilets.

A dirty lagoon behind the shelter, now a haven for rodents and mosquitoes.

Shadow Health Minister Louise Jackson branded the state of the site, a shabby six-building complex that 35 men and 12 women call home, ?shameful?.

And Major Rowe, divisional commander in Bermuda, who recently visited a state-of-the-art shelter in Ontario, Canada, added: ?This place needs to be condemned.

?For a country as affluent as Bermuda this really ought to be an embarrassment.?.

Stressing it was important the public was aware of conditions at the centre, he added: ?This place has a stigma attached to it. We are trying to fight this as best we can, but a better facility with more space can go a long way to ensure people do not hang their heads in shame.

?That?s not going to happen when you are looking at buildings like this.?

Major Rowe said the shelter was ?dangerous? and suggested it had only survived hurricanes because it was in a valley. ?Even with heavy rain and high winds everything gets saturated,? he continued. ?Mould forms and we have to constantly clean it up.

?Some people have come out of hospital and we have had to say they can?t live here.?

Problems started when the Marsh Lane budget was frozen a decade ago. That did not cater for the ?huge impact? of new employment laws that increased staff wages and changed shift patterns, Major Rowe said.

As a result, the Salvation Army cut security at the vulnerable shelter, located in a part of Hamilton notorious for crime and drugs. More belt-tightening saw the kitchen closed. This left many needy and vulnerable residents ? some with health problems like diabetes ? to start the day without breakfast, and forced them to rely on a free evening meal from the Army or church volunteers as their only guaranteed square meal.

Major Rowe said the budget for Marsh Lane rose $30,000 last year, but that only covered rising living costs.

In another crisis facing the Salvation Army, it emerged today that the future of its successful Harbour Lights rehabilitation scheme, and a linked employment programme, hangs in the balance.

The grant for the programme was slashed by $250,000 two years ago and Major Rowe said it only ?limped? into this year after emergency funds were used.

Top level talks have already been held with Health Minister Patrice Minors. And she was told that unless the budget is restored next April, Harbour Lights will close.

The scheme has proved a success, with 18 of 21 recent residents currently six months to one year free of addiction and looking for work. For five months of the year, when the Camp Spirit programme closes for the summer, Harbour Lights is the only residential treatment on the Island and is consistently over-subscribed.

Given recent concerns about drug-related crime on the Island, he said it was ?scary? somewhere like Harbour Lights ? that aimed to help addicts get to grips with their problems ? could vanish.

Meanwhile, this year?s Throne Speech contained a pledge to start work on a night shelter for 200 people ? although no direct mention was made of the Salvation Army or the crumbling Marsh Lane site, which is currently full.

Major Rowe said alarm bells rang when he heard the new shelter might not be managed by the Salvation Army.

?If they build a new facility, they are talking about putting the management of it out to tender,? he revealed. ?We would have concerns about it being run for profit by people who do not have our experience or the off-Island expertise the Army provides.?

Long-term worries aside, Major Rowe warned of serious short-term problems looming if Marsh Lane was not bulldozed ? and replaced fast.

?Eventually people will have to go back on the streets unless a large amount of money is spent,? he told ?Marsh Lane is beyond repair ? it just has to be replaced. We can?t wait for another Throne Speech before helping the homeless. The time to act is now.?

The divisional leader said the organisation was currently carrying out a ?homeless count? in cars, beaches and bushes across Bermuda, in a bid to determine the scale of the Island?s problem.

And Major Rowe warned against people underestimating the issue, and said that despite regular assurances from Government, there had been no sign yet of a replacement shelter.

?In Bermuda, homeless people are in your face. In somewhere like New York, that?s not the case. You have to be blind not to notice here. A large proportion of the Bermuda population is in denial about homelessness.?

He stressed the new site needed to house at least 200 people.

?A lot of people on the street will not come here,? he added. ?But if you put up a decent shelter you would easily get 200 people staying.

?That?s the scale of the problem in Bermuda.?

In a reference to the Government Clifton revamp, Major Rowe added: ?It?s obvious Government has funds it can use for other purposes, and they may be noble purposes, but let?s now turn our attention towards the homeless.?

Those comments were echoed by Mrs. Jackson.

She said: ?I?m shocked the Salvation Army, which has taken care of the homeless and poor for more than 100 years in Bermuda, should have to house people in these appalling conditions. The building is falling apart.?

She said the Health Minister promised the homeless help more than a year ago, and said urgent action was now needed.

The Department of Health was asked to comment on funding of Harbour Lights and the future of the Marsh Lane shelter, but there was no reply at the time of going to Press last night.