Charity leaders said a final funding push will help get them over the line to complete a life-changing centre for struggling parents and their children.

They praised the kindness of companies who had helped them to turn a former rest home into the Transformational Living Centre for Families.

Now they are appealing for a final $150,000 in donations to get the facility opened.

Sheelagh Cooper, the chairwoman of Habitat for Humanity of Bermuda, and Elaine Butterfield, the Women’s Resource Centre executive director, are spearheading the project in Pembroke.

Ms Cooper said: “The original estimate for the restoration of the building was $1.3 million.

“This has been reduced by more than half as a result of the tremendous support of local suppliers, contractors and pro bono contributions of labour.”

Ms Cooper added that companies had shown “incredible generosity” through donations of time and materials to the project.

She said: “This represents a huge outpouring of support from local businesses.

“Additionally, we have been very pleased with the financial support we have received from both local and international companies and we now have raised 80 per cent of our financial needs.

“In fact, at this point, we are looking at only an additional $150,000 to completely furnish and finish … to put us over the finish line.”

She added: “It’s a huge comfort to both Elaine and I to know that we have received that kind of support.

“We have great confidence that that support will continue as the programme evolves and the women arrive.”

The TLC for Families was the 2018 brainchild of a think-tank of 18 charities and government agencies which identified the significant scale of homelessness among mothers and children, as well as an urgent need to tackle the problem.

The centre will also other services such as counselling and training.

Ms Cooper said: “We are working together with one goal – to end homelessness among families by providing more than just shelter … an array of transformational programmes designed to heal and uplift the whole family, providing them with a new set of tools and a healthy fresh start.”

She added: “The concept of housing first, which forms the basis of the work that we are doing here, essentially recognises the fact that it’s so much better and cheaper to keep someone in a home than it is to house a homeless person.

“Fundamental to the health of a family is a roof over their heads.

“That should be the very first point of intervention when a family is in distress.”

Ms Cooper said that although the Covid-19 pandemic caused a “hiatus” in renovations to the former Pembroke Rest Home on Parson’s Road, the project was on track to be finished in January.

Ms Butterfield added: “Upon completion of the physical building, when it’s ready to be occupied, that’s when the Women’s Resource Centre will take over with the programme.

“The idea is to house ten families with up to three children each, in phases.”

The WRC had run a pilot programme called Transformational Support Services, which was sponsored by HSBC.

The scheme started with psychological, educational and life skills assessments for ten women who have since received “training, education and support to enable them to lead more sustainable lives for their selves and therefore their families”.

Ms Butterfield added: “This programme, which should end at the end of the year, will be transferred into the Transformational Living Centre.”

She said the need for a facility such as the TLC for Families had increased “exponentially” in recent months.

Ms Butterfield added: “We have seen the demand at the Women’s Resource Centre and Habitat for Humanity multiply with the needs daily, not just for food but for somewhere to live.”

She added that a lack of employment or financial problems meant that more people were in need of housing.

Ms Butterfield acknowledged that the problem was repeated all over the world as countries dealt with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

She added that placements at the new facility will be based on agency referrals.