Single mother Sharon Morgan is headed for homelessness after receiving a notice to quit from her landlady.

But this is not a normal eviction scenario - Ms Morgan perfectly understands and accepts her landlady's decision. What is - or should be unusual - is that the eviction appears to have been prompted by a snafu from the Financial Assistance department.

She was promised assistance to the tune of $1,139 a month, money that was meant to go directly to her landlady Margaret Harvey, from February until April when a reassessment of her case is scheduled.

But the February rent cheque did not arrive as expected, was paid a month late, and the cheque for this month was $430 short.

The landlady is fed up.

“There is a review being done and it should be completed shortly,” said acting director of Financial Assistance Douglas Tucker. “We should have a position in the next couple of days.”

Mr. Tucker could not say why the level of assistance was reduced or whether Ms Morgan was informed of the change.

“It is usually put in writing. I would assume that that letter went out.”

Neither Ms Morgan nor Ms Harvey received any notification that the cheque was being reduced, according to Ms Morgan and United Bermuda Party MP Suzann Holshouser who has intervened on her behalf.

“I totally understand why the landlady is trying to evict me,” Ms Morgan said.

Ms Morgan, who has a 13-year-old son with a medical condition, says the notice to quit, was given in late February.

“It's very stressful because he (her son) also understands if we don't find somewhere else to live, there's a chance of the family being split up,” Ms Morgan said.

“I am looking at giving up guardianship of my son to a friend so he can have an emotionally stable place and I'm looking to sleeping on people's couches.”

Their repeated enquiries with the Financial Assistance officers have been fruitless.

“There was nothing on file to determine why the payment hadn't been made as advised and nowhere along the line was the client ever informed that they will not be making full payments and nowhere has the landlady been advised that she would not be receiving full payment,” Mrs. Holshouser said.

Citing policy, the department would not reissue another cheque to make up the balance for April pending the inquiry, she added. “Because they can only issue one cheque each month for Sharon Morgan, no exceptions.”

Ms Morgan earns a net weekly wage of $362.68.

And next month Ms Morgan will be receiving even less money from Financial Services, only around the minimum of $400 Mrs. Holshouser said.

Ms Harvey could not be reached by Press time, but according to Mrs. Holshouser this is not the landlady's first negative experience with tenants on financial assistance.

The MP added that Ms Harvey has decided not to rent her house out to Financial Assistance clients in the future because when they are late to pay she still has to pay her bills.

“There should never be a scenario where the caseworker has to understand and research the case,” she said.

“There should always be accurate records as to why any changes are required. But first and foremost if there are changes the parties should be notified.”

Mrs. Holshouser said she suspected that Ms Morgan's predicament was not unique and called on the public to contact her if they had similar experiences with Financial Assistance.

“I would encourage any single mom who has had difficulties with Financial Assistance to contact me. I only want to know what's going on - if it's a matter of not enough staff then we have to look at that.”