Government has ignored offers by the Corporation of Hamilton to provide a homeless shelter in the city, according to the city's Mayor.

Charles Gosling told a Corporation meeting that they had approached Government last year offering to renovate one of its buildings, with the idea that Government would then lease it at a minimal rent to a social services provider.

This would have helped Government, which pledged in its 2005 Throne Speech to "commence on a night shelter and rooming house facility for 200 persons." The cost of this proposed shelter was estimated to be $28 million, with funding for the work mentioned in the 2006/07 budget.

However, former Social Rehabilitation Minister Dale Butler last year said the project was put on the backburner due to budget constraints.

Last week, Mr. Gosling told a Corporation meeting that a letter to Works and Engineering Permanent Secretary Robert Horton to renovate a Government building at the Corporation's expense for a homeless shelter had gone unanswered.

He said: "If there are people out there that need somewhere to stay, we need to help in the process, which is why we identified a property.

"We have a social service provider — a well known local charity — interested in taking the project on. Unfortunately we have yet to hear a response to our inquiries (about using a Government building)."

Questions from this paper to Mr. Horton also remained unanswered at the time of going to press.

Ed Benevides, the Corporation's general secretary, said the Corporation had agreed last year on a site where the Ministry of Works and Engineering could build a shelter in North Hamilton. The project did not move any further before Works and Engineering came back with a different land proposal, which the Corporation did not agree on.

It was then that the Corporation suggested utilising a Government-owned building to renovate at its expense and then be offered to an association, for minimal rent, to provide support for the needy.

One of the proposed buildings — former Ministry of Education offices — is located on Cedar Avenue, next to the asthma clinic, and is just outside the City boundary.

It was Deputy Mayor Glen Smith who raised the issue last week in a Corporation meeting after witnessing three homeless people sleeping in Victoria Park.

He said: "There are more and more people on the streets and there's clearly a severe problem. Yes it would be great to have the city rangers to move them along but that's not the answer.

"Here's the Government spending $800,000 of our taxpayers' money. That could have been put to better use. We have properties here we could have done something with those funds.

"There's more and more homeless people coming on line and between us and Government we could really do something to help and solve some of the problems we have.

"We also have to be cognisant of the fact there's a recession out there; one Bermuda has never seen. I had to be a fatalist on this but I do believe we will see more people out there. We should be addressing this."