North Street night shelters for the homeless. It is a fact of life that people will complain if given the chance and we do not think the complaints are much more than that.

In our opinion there could be no better arrangement for running shelters than that which Bermuda has with the Salvation Army. We are convinced that the Salvation Army runs the shelters as well as they can be run. We also think that the Salvation Army runs them for a fraction of the cost we would bear if the shelters were run by Government.

Shelters, like anything else, must have some regulations. It is probably the nature of the homeless, especially those with mental problems and alcohol and drug problems, that they would like nothing better than to do whatever they wish whenever and wherever they wish. No organisation, not even the thoroughly well intentioned Salvation Army, can run shelters that way. If there were no regulations then there would be chaos in the shelters and they would then be empty. The best that can be done is to make the shelters available, run them well, and encourage the homeless to use them.

The problem created by "car world'' are not new. Every few years there is publicity about the homeless and where they are living. Once they were living in packing cases near the Pembroke Canal, then it was the old railway tunnels and later it was "tents'' on the edge of Bernard Park. The problem is not the shelters. The problem is that there are people who prefer cars, tents and tunnels to what the Salvation Army runs. That will probably be so no matter what is provided at the shelters. Some people simply want to live "rough''.

The problem which needs to be addressed is the numbers which seem to grow.

We do think there is a need for a day facility so that the homeless have somewhere to go other than "car world''. There needs to be a day place other than the streets and the parks when the night shelters are closed. However it is clear that Government is making plans for such a facility, and Major Gilbert St. Onge of the Salvation Army has said that the Army recognises the need for a day facility. Of course, it will also need to have some rules and that, again, might not suit some of the homeless.

We think that a good deal of the problem arises because Bermuda, like Britain and the United States, decided not to institutionalise some of the patients at the psychiatric hospital, St. Brendan's. Thus, we let some people out of St.

Brendan's and "rehabilitated'' them by leaving them to the streets and to "car world''. It was interesting to us that at least four of the people sleeping at "car world'' had been patients at St. Brendan's. The issue is complex, but letting people out of St. Brendan's with no support system is not really acceptable. What is being operated at North Street is shelter for the homeless and some people probably need more help than the shelter can be expected to provide.

If we begin to make inroads against alcoholism and drug abuse then we may prevent what is often the root cause of homelessness. Right now we try with such things as shelters to cope with the results of drug abuse. We have to learn to spend money finding solutions for the causes.