THE famous American poet Sam Walter Foss wrote "Let me live in a house by the side of the road and be a friend to man." Habitat For Humanity of Bermuda has been striving to make those words a reality since becoming a registered Bermuda charity in April, 2000.

Habitat For Humanity of Bermuda is an affiliate of the international charity organisation Habitat for Humanity - a United States based non-profit, Christian housing organisation building simple, decent, affordable housing in partnership with people in need. The Bermuda chapter assists financially challenged people with the renovation, extension and construction of their homes.

The Habitat For Humanity of Bermuda organisation grew out of the ongoing need for affordable housing. Bermuda is an island smaller than 12,000 acres and our population is 60,000. This makes Bermuda one of the most populated expensive countries in the world and many Bermudians are finding it increasingly difficult to find a place to live in, let alone raise a family and thrive in.

There has been a slew of horror stories in recent years with regards to the housing crisis. One senior citizen was forced to shelter in a cave off South Shore because she could not afford to pay rent. Others have taken to sleeping in abandoned cars or tents off the Railway Trail. And numerous families have been forced to leave Bermuda in recent years and resettle overseas because they can simply no longer afford to live here. The housing crisis continues to remain near the forefront of most people's minds these days.

The Mid-Ocean News spoke with Larry Williams, executive director of Habitat Bermuda, about the ongoing housing crisis, the stigma involved in asking for help, the anti-social behaviour produced by lack of housing and what Habitat Bermuda is doing to combat the predicament.

"As we all know there is a need for both affordable housing and rental accommodationsm" he said. "If you compare the prices of homes in Bermuda from 10 years ago to today you will see they have all gone up and it's not going to stop.

"There may be some subtle reductions here and there in the price, but our overall market softens very little. Not like the United States, and not like the rest of the world. We might see a thousand knocked off the asking price here and there but we are not going to see tens of thousands or hundreds of thousand of dollars in overall cost reduction."

Mr. Williams said we have become complacent with regards to living in such a superificially affluent society.

"Over the last 30 or 40 years most Bermudians have been inspired to live in a very comfortable, attractive, wealthy environment," he said. "That is something that is wonderful, but there is a downside to everything. The prices of homes have soared as has the cost of living."

Mr. Williams is a former assistant director at the Department of Planning, the Government organisation responsible for controlling and regulating the development of Bermuda's scarce land resources in order to ensure its optimum use.

He has been the executive director for Habitat Bermuda for the last four years and says the housing crisis has reached an all-time high - and is only going to get worse.

Habitat Bermuda exists to help people get through the tough times and Mr. Williams explained what the organisation does and some of the upcoming projects they are involved with.

"Most of our projects to date have been assisting renovating major and minor renovations and completions of existing properties," he said. "In the next month or two we will be breaking ground on a new development and we will be starting our first new build in Bermuda. We will be doing a new townhouse style development in Devonshire."

Mr. Williams explained the background to this project.

"There is an existing derelict home that has two bedrooms," he said. "We are adding on two new two bedroom units and converting a portion of the basement into a studio apartment. So for us this is a new build."

Habitat Bermuda's executive director said one of the local banks had been extremely cooperative when it came to putting the financing together for this new project.

"We are working with a local banking institution that has provided us with a very attractive mortgage package for our client," he said.

"The clients who own the home we will be working on have been quite generous. They have unofficially turned their Vesey Street, Devonshire property over to us and we are managing the construction for a period to cover the mortgage."

Mr. Williams said there are hidden benefits attached for Bermudian landlords who work with Habitat

"When we are done the clients actually gain a refurbished upgraded property," he said. "At the end of the day, and once the mortgage is cleared, we leave the property. Even though we leave, we hope the family will continue along with the impetus of providing affordable rental accommodations for the general public."

Mr. Williams said anyone can contact Habitat for help and spoke about how Habitat gets its funding.

"If you need help just contact us: we don't solicit," he said. "We are a Christian based organisation based on Christian principals of Christ going out to help his fellow man.

"We are a charity and our funding and our ability to help is based on the amount of funds that we do have. We don't have fundraisers. People can certainly put on functions for us and we can be beneficiaries of it but we have not actually put on a function to raise money. Much of our money does come from individual donations, corporate donations and foundations as well."

Mr. Williams is quietly proud of the headway Habitat Bermuda has had in tackling one of the island's most pervasive social ills: "Our biggest success story is really where we are now," he said. "This upcoming project is something we have been striving for for the last three years and we are now at the crossroads. Other success stories are the improvements we've made to a number of properties in the last three years."

Mr. Williams pointed out that a lot of the anti-social behaviour plaguing Bermuda stems from the fact there is insufficient affordable housing in place.

"The lack of proper housing or affordable housing certainly has such a tremendous knock on effect," said Mr. Williams. "It contributes to some of the challenges the community is now facing with the anti-social behaviour by both the adults and the young people. When I say anti-social behaviour I mean gang violence, physical and sexual abuse and high divorce rates."

Mr. Williams said the only realistic solution is finding as many proper homes for people who don't have them as possible.

"My theory has always been: If we can solve the housing problem, all the other issues will probably become less significant," he said.

"We're not going to be able to house everybody, but our goal is to upgrade and provide housing for as many Bermudians as possible.

"And we have to start recognising the positive knock-on effects of this. Hopefully some of this anti-social negative behaviour we're experiencing will cease to exist or will not be so prevalent in the community."

Mr. Williams said he hopes people will continue to come forward and volunteer time and resources to the charity.

And he also said Bermudians who need help have to overcome their fear of being stigmatised.

"With the people who we help and will help, there are no billboards outside or any fanfare stating that Habitat is working on this or that project," he said. "People will just see the a house improved or some additions going on and not know we worked on the house.

"We obviously do not want to stigmatise the individual who asks for help. Unfortunately the Western culture and philosophy is that if you ask for help then you've failed. People should not believe that because we are all our brothers' keeper and should help one another regardless of the circumstances."

People wishing to donate or get in contact with Habitat For Humanity of Bermuda can go to their website http://www.habitat.bm/ or send mail to: Habitat for Humanity Bermuda, 38 Mount Hill Pembroke HM09.