When Fern Wade started working with the homeless 30 years ago there were 55 people she knew to be living rough.

"Now there are about 300 known people living on the streets," she says.

The Royal Gazette caught up with her in Court Street on Saturday as she prepared her final annual Christmas Feeding on the Street and she said the problems hadn't changed much in three decades — just the scale of them.

"Every time we help ten, there are ten more families that need help," she said.

But despite the burgeoning problem, it has not been something that has registered this election campaign.

Major Doug Lewis, head of the Salvation Army, said: "Neither of the manifestos for either party has mentioned homelessness."

He said affordable housing had been promised by both parties. "But it does not come down low enough," he said. "Who is going to advocate for our people on the street? They are forgotten."

The Salvation Army house 55 people at their crumbling shelter on North Street in Pembroke.

"It was probably built for about 35," Major Lewis said. "We have gone to the dorm-style with beds all lined up."

Forty men and 15 women inhabit the grim huts which need continual repair. But at least they are a roof for those without one. The glaring gaps in the walls have been patched up. "We were using wallboard, plywood and tape — anything that would fill in the holes," said Major Lewis.

The first prefab huts opened in 1982, another hut was added a year later. It was thought they would last a maximum of 15 years. But 25 years on, there are no firm proposals to replace them but there have been plenty of promises.

Announcements to revamp the existing building were first mooted in 2000 but nothing happened. The 2005 Throne Speech contained a pledge to start work on a night shelter for 200 people and money was set aside.

Last month Social Rehabilitation Minister Dale Butler said he was hoping to have a proposal go to Cabinet soon although he added it would not be done until 2011 at the earliest.

Amid prevarication about replacing the buildings Government has been critical of the lack of a programme at the site.

Two years ago then Health Minister Patrice Minors hit back over reports of poor conditions at the Salvation Army hostel and said she was "fed up" with the charity's requests for more cash.

This year Government boosted funding but the Opposition said it was still at a lower level than when the PLP first took office and had cut it in half.

Maj. Lewis said there had been talks with Housing Minister David Burch who had visited the base and had brought Works and Engineering to look at it.

A year ago, the roof caved in on the kitchen but at least the problem of rats running across the yard has abated with the cleaning of the canal just behind the Government-owned site.

"We are reluctant to spend too much money on the buildings because if there is something that's going to happen we won't want to invest and then have them tear it down," Maj. Lewis said.

"We are between a rock and a hard place as to band aid solutions and the long term viability of the building."

New wallboard and some paint has been put in by Government. "But its band-aid solutions — I am not sure if they know how long they need to make these buildings last. They are working with us. For the last seven or eight years, we have been at the point where something drastically needs to be done. We are just waiting for the Government to make a decision.

"It is in the works, I think it is partially due to the fact that there are other projects on and there are other requests for money."

But he has never seen the plans and he doesn't think his predecessors saw any either.

"The Minister says it is in the works and it is on the table and it is going ahead," he said. "But we are not sure what going ahead means and where it actually stands."

Maj. Lewis has not been given a timeline. "It's Government. With Government you learn to be patient," he said.

He is cognizant of the Government's criticisms of the programme there — but says infrastructure issues affect what can be offered and the current set up is not ideal.

"It still borders on warehousing people. We get them off the street, they are out of sight and nobody cares about that."

But Maj. Lewis, who has been in the job 18 months, and his team do care and they want to provide a continuum of care — taking people off the streets to the shelter and then on to transitional housing to eventually affordable housing as people become independent.

"But there are too many gaps," he said. "First and foremost we are not large enough so we have more people than it's actually meant for which means that things get run down."

He said a games room and a class room to teach life-skills were needed as was a section offering more independence.

Despite its limitations there is a waiting list to get in.

Not surprising as the unit can accommodate just over ten percent of demand.

"We would estimate there are probably 400 homeless people across the Island," Maj. Lewis said. "Many of them are not in the Hamilton area."

Once in, residents have a six-month time limit to get back on their feet. Some just go back to the street.

Maj. Lewis said only Bermuda's temperate climate reduced the human toll on those surviving on the streets.

"It is possible to live in a rusted old car or under a rock," he said.

And Mrs. Wade who travels the Island dishing out food to the needy with her Hands of Love charity said any revamp needed to double the number of beds.

Mrs. Wade said shelters were needed in every parish and she believes families needed to help out their own. "I have seen the homeless problem get a lot worse," she said.

She said the main sufferers were single men with addiction or mental problems and single parents who could not afford Bermuda's high rents. "They are on the Railway Trail, on the beaches, in the bus shelters, in the parks and abandoned houses.

"They are dropping down dying — they are not being taken care of physically, there are no doctors on the streets. It is cold and they are subject to crime."

Last year Bermuda had a billion-dollar budget but homelessness remains.

"It is not good enough," Mrs. Wade said. "We need to be about people first. We are not looking to cure everyone's problems, we are looking to help and resources have to be there for people. Some services are there."

But she said the services should go to the street people to make sure they were of maximum benefit rather than expect the street people to have the wherewithal to find the services.

Gaynelle Ottley, herself staying at a Government emergency housing in St. David's, is one of Mrs. Wade's helpers.

She said: "I feel for people who have nowhere to go, it's hard. I have seen people living in cars and on beaches."

And Mrs. Wade, who was speaking as helpers doled out food to the needy just across the street from the PLP HQ, said the poor were ever present — whether a country was rich or not.

Urging people vote, not to be intimidated and to follow their conscience, she said: "God puts in Governments and he takes out Governments."