A Sandys Parish woman has threatened to "pitch a tent'' on Cabinet grounds in an effort to keep her family together and avoid being homeless.

Hotel worker Barbara Brooks said she is desperate to find a home for herself and her two daughters and to escape the attention of the authorities who might put her two daughters in foster homes.

Ms Brooks is being forced to move from her apartment.

When contacted last night, Health and Social Services Minister Nelson Bascome said his staff were "working diligently'' to find Ms Brooks a home.

"She is on our urgent list. But we had two other urgent placements this month,'' Mr. Bascome said.

He added: "We are working very diligently on her case. I would not want her to take such drastic measures, but we're working with her.'' Ms Brooks while insisting she was not criticising Social Services or the housing assistance programme, said she only wanted to "highlight'' her situation.

"I'm desperate. I'll pitch a tent down at Cabinet. I have no other choice,'' Ms Brooks told The Royal Gazette . "The Police can come and arrest me. I have to do this for my children.'' Ms Brooks said she was tired of living by the grace of friends and could not afford most rents being asked for by landlords.

But she claimed to have a sterling record of paying rents of up to $1,000 a month.

She has been placed on an urgent housing list at the Bermuda Housing Corporation and her current apartment hunt has lasted almost two years.

"I know there are a lot other people out there that need a place to stay, but I want to keep my family together,'' she said. "Because if I don't get a house, then Family Services are going to take away my two girls.

"Family Services has told me that if I didn't have a house, that they would have to put my kids in foster care.'' "They can't be taken from pillar to post,'' she stressed. "`I am not unfit and I want them to be settled. I've looked everywhere and this is my last resort.'' "They have all been so helpful, but there is nothing out there,'' Ms Brooks added.

She has looked into renting a guest house, but none are available until the end of the tourist season which means she faces the month of October without a home.

"I've been searching for more than a year. I'm really in need,'' she said.

"I just want to leave that house peacefully.

"I do not want to aggravate my landlord unnecessarily. I will leave it just like I found it.'' This week she sent her nine-year-old daughter to the girl's father but will keep her five-year-old with her.

"I've been everywhere and I'm at my wits end,'' Ms Brooks said. "Government had housing at the Naval Annex (Morgan's Point) that they could have used for housing.

"Until they made up their mind what they were going to do with it, they could have used it for emergency housing.'' Last night, Mr. Bascome said he has dealt with "three or four'' urgent housing situations like Ms Brooks' and added that in recent months there had not been any evictions onto the streets that his department had handled.

"It's still early,'' he said. "I'm sure this (Ms Brooks' situation) will work out by Thursday.''