yesterday.

Opposition MP Kim Young has called upon the Government to respond to the crisis by using empty hotels for emergency short-term family housing.

Mrs. Young said Bermuda Housing Corporation general manager Raymonde Dill had told her the number of families on the emergency waiting list had gone up from the year-end figure of 130 to 146.

But there was better news on the non-urgent list which had fallen from 650 families to 460. The emergency waiting list is a subset of the ordinary waiting list.

Mrs. Young blasted Housing Minister Nelson Bascome for being unsympathetic to the homeless.

She said Mr. Bascome's remarks in The Royal Gazette about housing on Thursday had sparked anger from callers who had told her they were doing everything they could to get housing but were getting nowhere.

Mr. Bascome had said a lot of people didn't want to work with the Bermuda Housing Corporation to get housed.

She said: "People I have talked to have been trying hard to get housing, they all know Wendy Bassett at the Housing Corporation, they have all had their names on their list and they are living in overcrowded conditions or unacceptable conditions and they are all getting frustrated.

"They are waiting, not just for a week -- they are waiting years but they still have not got anywhere. Government has to come forward to solve the problems.

"It was a big issue in the election. They said we were not doing our job but we don't see their promises coming to fruition.'' She said living in overcrowded conditions had a harmful effect on children.

"You can't discipline or rear children in someone else's home,'' said Mrs.

Young.

Mrs. Young said it was time to fasttrack the house building programme.

Emergency "They aren't coming quick enough -- we would have had those building at Southside up by now. We need more emergency housing for families to give them time to find something else.

"I am not saying wonderful homes -- just no frills housing where they can live while they are looking. Empty hotels could be used.'' Mrs. Young also said more help was needed for the mentally ill people living rough.

Neither Housing Corporation general manager Raymonde Dill nor Housing Minister Nelson Bascome could be reached for comment.