THE most desperate of the island's homeless are being persistently pushed to the back of the line for new housing by Bermuda Housing Corporation officials who are biased against them.

That is the view of Rosemarie Pedro, chairperson of the Coalition for Affordable Housing, who accused some staff at the BHC of being "insensitive" with needy people who went to the Corporation in search of help and a home.

She said the practice of rejecting the neediest went against the BHC mission statement - "to promote accessibility to adequate and affordable housing" - and would cause long-term problems for the community.

Her comments came in the week that the BHC board suspended general manager Raymonde Dill and finance manager Robert Clifford for the duration of an investigation by Auditor General Larry Dennis.

The board's action followed allegations of corruption by Shadow Health Minister Michael Dunkley in the House of Assembly and details of questionable BHC spending revealed by this newspaper.

"I believe they (the BHC) do try to be helpful, but I do feel there is some biased decision making going on," said Ms Pedro.

"I don't know how the selection committee that allocates homes makes their decisions, but I do know that the ones being housed are not the most desperate ones."

She added that she could understand why those who had a history of repeated eviction would not make attractive tenants, but felt that the Government-run BHC should help these people as the private sector surely would not.

"These are often people who are working 40 hours a week and earning good money, but they need help," said Ms Pedro. "They need a home and they need to be on a programme which teaches them to budget.

"This is not happening and it creates a social problem for us all. We all pay into the Government and this is a situation where the Government can help."

Ms Pedro, who has campaigned for five years to see more affordable housing for Bermudians, said she had been angered by when she saw a payee cheque list published by the Mid-Ocean News which showed that painter Paul Young had been paid more than $800,000 in the space of seven months last year.

"Everybody should be angry," she said. "That is money that they will not be able to get back and money that has been thrown away and money that should have been spent on housing people."

She also referred to BHC property officer Terrence Smith, of Tee Street, Devonshire, who, according to a report in The Royal Gazette this week has made substantial renovations to his home using a contractor who was simultaneously working on BHC projects.

When the contractor, Kevin Pilgrim, billed Mr. Smith for the work on his home, he claimed he was immediately taken off the BHC projects.

Ms Pedro commented: "I think if people are working for the Housing Corporation and benefiting from the situation to build massive houses, they are not seeing what the average person has to deal with.

"Maybe Mr. Terrence Smith would like to rent out some apartments in his big house to people the Corporation should be helping to house."

A lack of sensitivity towards applicants from both the BHC and the Housing Allowance Programme (HAP) was adding depth to the crisis facing the homeless, added Ms Pedro. "People are going there looking for help and they find themselves in an embarrassing situation," she said. "But the Housing Corporation pull people down and so they are scared to go there because of what might be said to them.

"I have spoken to Raymonde Dill about this and he agreed with me that there was a lack of sensitivity and said he would look into it with the staff. I blieve that it's still going on.

"I know what it's like. I once went to HAP for help just after I'd had my fourth child. They said to me that maybe I should get `fixed'. What a comment to make."