Opposition Senator insisted yesterday.

Sen. Kim Swan said: "We have got to look at social services the way we look at a balance sheet -- and when anyone looks at the balance sheet, they are looking at the bottom line. What they get out of it.'' Sen. Swan added Government needed to commit more resources to make good on pre-election promises to deal with the housing crisis.

He said: "Today's sufferer isn't comforted by tomorrow's solution and that's what many people who work in social services find they are working with -- people looking for today's solutions.'' And he called on community groups like churches, sports clubs and lodges to be drafted into a partnership with Government to deal with social problems.

Sen. Swan said: "The community's hurting. We have pockets of people sitting out in the bushes maybe having a spliff or whatever they're doing.

"It's not going to go away until we deal with the problem and we have to look at this problem a lot differently than saying `we've made appropriations for this and we done this programme or that programme'.'' Sen. Swan was speaking during the Senate Budget debate on the massive Ministry of Health.

Senate health spokesman Calvin Smith hit back that Government's housing initiative had been "outstanding.'' He added that deals had also been struck with the owners of more than 70 vacant or derelict buildings to renovate or refurbish them to provide low-income housing.

And he said that -- due to incentives like more flexible housing loans -- 60 more people had become house owners since the PLP took power in 1998.

But he added that the former Government's insistence on making people home owners had contributed to the current Government's problem in finding houses for people who "can't afford to buy.'' Sen. Smith said, however, that it was planned to boost the rental stock of the Bermuda Housing Corporation to a total of 450 houses by the end of the year.

He added: "There is periodic contact with church groups who have the ability to do one-off assistance but ongoing assistance is very difficult for church groups.'' Earlier, Sen. Swan questioned a massive drop in cash flow at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital -- down from just over $18 million to $5.7 million.

He said: "It's no secret the hospital is in the throes of restructuring. I certainly hope that the hospital can come to terms with this cash flow dilemma and get itself in a position where it can find itself properly managing these millions of dollars it is responsible for in the provision of healthcare.'' Sen. Swan added that the increasing population of elderly people had contributed "enormous amounts of money'' to health insurance -- but later on found themselves "at our mercy'' when their health began to fail.

He said: "I would urge the Minister to ensure that we are going to keep the price of healthcare coming down.'' Sen. Smith added: "We have continued to provide health care despite what appears to be significant reduction in cash flow.''