Minister Nelson Bascome talks to reporter Matthew Taylor on how his ministry is tackling the problem.

Housing is a hot issue for Health and Family Services Minister Nelson Bascome.

Angry exchanges in the House of Assembly recently saw Shadow Housing Minister Kim Young claim that Mr. Bascome was not doing enough to house the homeless.

But for Mr. Bascome the issue hit a raw nerve.

He told The Royal Gazette : "Housing is a top priority, just behind children.

It's a basic human right. That's why the Housing Corporation has a mandate to build houses.

"Between November, 1999 to November, 2000 -- we have got 126 more houses available.

"That's a combination of vacant and derelict properties, Bermuda Housing Corporation Houses, Bermuda Housing Trust and the private sector rental programme.'' And claims that families are sleeping rough get Mr. Bascome quite irritated.

"Any time anyone in this community finds anyone living rough they have an obligation to come to this Ministry and let us know,'' he said.

"If a family is out there living rough it is because they want to. If they go through proper channels then we work with those families.'' And he challenged housing activist Fern Wade to present such cases to his Ministry.

"This is a serious issue. When I see a Bermudian family in need I am concerned.

"We have these people in the community who say there are 100 children out there starving and haven't had a breakfast. Show me the numbers! "Yet they can make a whole pile of noise about it. If those children are starving -- let's help them! "They are not there -- in terms of individuals out there homeless, yes there are quite a number of individuals.

"A number of these don't want to go down to the night shelter to get a bed -- or they have been turned away because they have a drug or alcohol problem.

"Or they don't want to pay the $4 a night that the night shelter asked them to pay. Or they don't want to be bound by rules and regulations.

"You have quite a number of guys out there who go from pillar to post, they sleep on a friend's floor or crawl up under someone's doorway.

"Then you have a percentage who have some mental health issues. We have always had concerns -- but these folks can also get help.

"There are community houses for mentally impaired people. A St. Brendan's worker will work with them in a family setting -- in a four or five bedroom house.

"But some individuals don't want that type of service but would much rather be out on the streets begging.

"Sometimes there is a substance issue. You can get three square meals a day and even coffee at the day centre at the Salvation Army as well as dinner at the Seventh Day Adventist Church.

"When you see folks panhandling through the streets of Hamilton -- these folks can get a meal when they want.

"My advice is not to give them money. Don't encourage them -- some of them have habits. When I was working for the Salvation Army at Harbour Lights I took a young man to collect his belongings and went with him to his house and saw one of the well-known panhandlers smoking crack.

"Throughout the years we have had people that just live rough. They sort of grow on a community. Sometimes they don't seek any further assistance.'' `We have this system in place' -- But minister claims `a lot of these folks don't want to work alongside us' "But we have quite a number of young people starting to live rough, drugs are part of it.

"When I saw that story in the Mid Ocean this summer about the lady living on the beach with a child I was immediately alarmed.

"We have a young person on a beach with a baby in her arms saying she was homeless.

"Our first priority was that child. So I said we can't have that child out in the elements.

"I dispatched people who went running down to the beach to try and find this lady. The campers had chased her, they said nobody up here is homeless.

"That girl can go off to her mother, that's where she came from. If you are camping you need an assessment number.

"They raced her right back home where she belongs. There is no story. But it's out there. It hits the talk shows and goes on for ten years down the line that we have people sleeping on the beach.

"I get very concerned about these stories.

"If someone comes to us we direct them to the right services. If it's a single guy we put them down at the shelter.

"A family will go to the Housing Corporation who have emergency housing which from time to time can assist.

"During the winter months quite a number of our guest properties are empty so we are able to call up a guest cottage and take a family in until we can get them housed.

"A number of these folks when we approach them we ask how responsible are you going to be? "Do you want to work? Do you want to not sell drugs? If so we will work along with you.

"A lot of these folks don't want to work alongside us. Then you have some persons who are older and embarrassed and don't know their way into the system.

"It's those people who I invite Fern Wade to bring to us. Because we have this system in place to assist.

"It's very difficult to make contact with people out there.

"We need to find out how many of these people want assistance and to help themselves, how many have a mental illness and how many we can afford to help.

"But in terms of families -- Bermuda Housing Corporation is doing its darndest to make sure they are housed.

"We look at our resources. Are we doing enough? We can never get the true picture until we get the 2000 census results. So we know the number of expatriates here and the amount of locals that need housing.

"What we are finding is we have a number of young people who move out of their family homes and we can't accommodate them.

"In a number of cases they have come looking for houses because of fall outs with their parents. They don't want to be under their roof anymore.'' But young people are too hasty to fly the nest says Mr. Bascome.

"All of these things make housing issues a little worse. As soon as someone has an argument they pack their bags and they are on our steps in the morning.

"Young people making money now say hey, I can live on my own.'' "But they should be responsible instead of jumping into the rental market they should be thinking about their future and looking to get a down payment in order.'' "I encourage all young Bermudians to start planning. We can provide 90 percent financing at Bermuda Housing Corporation.

"It gives excellent opportunity for young people who want to be first time home owners.

"Under the current conditions there some pretty good rates with mortgages.'' The minister said there was a correlation between single parents, young mothers, the breakdown of the family and burgeoning housing problems.

Matters weren't helped by the sell-off of Government housing before the PLP took power, says Mr. Bascome.

"Take the Frog Lane condominiums -- they are three-bed units made in the 1970s but they were sold off and now the parents are living there but two bedrooms are empty.

"Basically you have all these units out there being underutilised.

"We have a number of landlords who have commitments with the bank and have very high rents, that is driven by the market that right now is dictated by the amount of international companies and their staff who are also in the market for housing.

"You don't have as many affordable units available to the Bermudian family so we have rent subsidies.'' But Mr. Bascome is powerless to stop soaring rents.

"You just have to make appeals to the private sector. We have made appeals in the past, by talking with business communities.'' To invigorate the rental market there is a scheme to give guarantees to landlords who might be wary of taking on tenants.

"There are a number of abusive situations where a tenant who won't pay gets into an eviction situation but it can take two, three, four months to go to court and the landlord is out by four months.

"And the lender says `you are out by four months, that's not my problem,' so you have issues of refinancing.

But a Housing Corporation scheme will cover the rent, come what may. In return the Corporation puts its own tenants in to an apartment and collects their rent.

The minister said the private market was not addressing the need for smaller units for elderly people and single parents.

"People are still generally building big houses,'' he said. "It's frustrating -- right now our biggest plea is for two-bedroom units.'' The Government's own building scheme is showing results.

"We have three different developments coming on line in the coming weeks.

"There is 20 units in St. David's and there's two in Somerset, one right across from St. James church which has six units, the other is on Broom Street with four units.

"The vacant and derelict programme is where we really want to pick up and get moving, you really don't want to be developing on virgin land.

"At the rate at which we are going we are not going to have a piece of property to build on.

"Businesses want to come here but there is a line which may have to be drawn -- we talk about sustainable development.

"It's one of those lines. How big do we go before we run out of breathing space? Housing is one of those lines.

"Living on the water is not a favoured option says Mr. Bascome. "I remember one guy living on a boat which sank.

"Immediately you have an emergency situation. But you need a mooring and a sheltered harbour.

Derelict properties going to waste are a constant source of frustration to Mr.

Bascome.

But he said firmer powers were on the way to tackle this.

He said: "We are going to amend the General Improvement Area Act to allow us to go in and identify a derelict house and start the work.

"Right now what happens is we might find there are some family issues.

"Brother and sister are fighting over the title deeds and the house just sits there empty and continues to deteriorate. You try and move in their and the brother and sister say `hold on'.

"But we will soon be able to go in and fix it up, recoup our costs in getting our tenants in and providing the rent and then in the long term get it back to the family.

As it stands now any individual who has a derelict house can come to the Bermuda Housing Corporation who will work with them to get a mortgage and bring the house up to speed.

When the tenant is in the Government takes the rent to cover the cost of the loan for the renovations.

"At the last count there had to be 200 plus derelict houses -- some we have got our hands on. Last year we got 22 vacant and derelict houses back on to the market.

"There's one house in the Glebe lands which was fixed up. Government probably helped them get the house fixed up and now I am sitting watching it deteriorate again.

"I understand it's family matters again. They just can't agree but the house is sitting empty in the middle of a viable and dense neighbourhood when it could be inhabited.'' Location, location, location: This Warwick cottage in a prime location overlooking Hamilton harbour lies abandoned. Housing Minister Nelson Bascome is about to get new powers to renovate such houses to bring them back into the rental market.