ope Homes has hit back at an ultimatum from Health Minister Patrice Minors, saying their doors are open and they want to talk. They also accused Government, in particular Mrs. Minors, of being disinterested in their plight, and of failing to award them their quarterly allowance on several occasions.

Hope Homes special projects officer Ben Nunn also produced financial statements from January-March 2004 which show the facility?s total expense for those three months to be $100,396.87. The facility lost nearly $15,000 in those three months.

However, founder Ellen Douglas and Mr. Nunn said, the facility is still up, running, and doing whatever is necessary to continue to provide service to their clients ? including selling home-made goods over the Internet and in a gift shop they propose to build where their property borders Cedar Avenue.

On Thursday Mrs. Minors said Government will take ?whatever steps necessary? to get the Board of Hope Homes to meet their responsibilities. The residential home for the mentally handicapped has been the centre of controversy ever since the Health Ministry came under fire three weeks ago for allowing the conditions of the facility to fall into disarray. In a statement made on Thursday Mrs. Minors blamed the continued disrepair on the Hope Homes Board. ?The public is aware that the facility that Hope Homes owns and used as a residence on Brunswick Street is condemned and that Government stepped in (three years ago) to offer shelter to the residents while Hope Homes refurbished that site ...

?The facility that Government provided in the West End (a two-storey, six bedroom house at Lefroy House) has not been maintained and the Brunswick facility has not been refurbished... The Ministry is committed to the mission of Hope Homes and for this reason a grant is provided to the Board. In cases like this where stated goals are not being met, the Ministry has tried to encourage and persuade this grant recipient to take the necessary corrective action in order to carry out their responsibility.

?If Hope Homes will not do what is required of them, the Ministry will take whatever steps necessary to ensure that this segment of the community is well-served.?

Yesterday Mr. Nunn said Hope Homes requested meetings with Mrs. Minors three different times several months ago to discuss quarterly funds which he said were withheld from the facility, but the Minister refused to meet with Mrs. Douglas.

On Thursday morning the facility received a quarterly allowance which was three months late, he said, and there were two payments that have not been paid in the previous two quarters. Not all clients get their full monthly amount, he added, saying the Home was unclear as to why that is.

Four Hope Homes retired clients were supposed to get their pension, he said ? however all four were moved out of Hope Homes to other rest homes and never received it. In the year since that move two of the would-be pensioners have passed away.

Three years ago then-Health Minister Nelson Bascome promised funds would be appropriated to renovate the Brunswick Street facility, though he never named a figure, Mr. Nunn said. That money has never been seen. When asked why the facility fell into such disarray in the first place, Mr. Nun said the $160,000 grant from the Health Ministry has not been increased in ten years. The facility already cannot afford to hire certified professionals, and the expenses of the facility and the clients mean that each year Hope Homes is losing money.

Hurricane Fabian took a large chunk of any money the facility was able to save and support from outside of Government has not been forthcoming, Mr. Nunn said. Project 100, the group Government named as offering assistance in the relocation of Hope Homes clients, was originally created as the fundraising arm of Hope Homes.

However for reasons Mrs. Douglas did not want to explain, Project 100 withdrew their services to the facility years ago, taking their benefactors with them. Though an investigation was launched, Mr. Nunn said that Mrs. Douglas was cleared of any wrongdoing. However financial records were seized during that investigation and subsequently. Those records were not returned, Mr. Nunn said, making it difficult for the home to produce accurate financial statements.

None of the key politicians involved have been to Brunswick Street to see the facility or meet the clients, Mr. Nunn said ? not Mrs. Minors, Shadow Health Minister Michael Dunkley, or Opposition MP Louise Jackson, who first brought up the state of Hope Homes clients in the House of Assembly several weeks ago.

?But we?ve got to meet,? Mr. Nunn said. ?They?ve got to communicate with us. We want to meet with the Minister, with Mr. Dunkley, with Ms Jackson, and anyone else here at their convenience, along with our Board and clients. We are writing a letter to that effect... We are willing and able to meet with them at any time at their earliest convenience, and we invite them to come down to visit any time.?