Bermuda Housing Corporation (BHC) tenants appear to be heeding the tough new message that those who do nothing to clear their arrears will be kicked out.

Housing Minister Sen David Burch revealed yesterday that $135,000 in rental arrears has been collected so far this month - a 25 percent increase in rental income.

He said two planned evictions scheduled for last week were averted after tenants paid back substantial arrears.

And he hit back at the Coalition for the Protection of Children, which blasted Government over a planned eviction last week of a mother who has a pregnant teenage daughter.

Sen Burch said tenants had to take responsibility for their actions. BHC would work with those in trouble if they came to an agreement to start repaying arrears and stuck with the plans.

Evictions were reserved for those who had done nothing to help themselves and made no effort to pay off their arrears.

Of five evictions scheduled for last week, three were carried out and two halted when one tenant paid the entire $10,575 balance, and the other paid $8,000, with the remaining $671.50 to be settled today.

And the woman with the pregnant teenage daughter facing eviction has been re-housed.

Sen Burch told The Royal Gazette: "(My message is) come up with the cash. Clearly people have demonstrated that.

"There are a number of people who have significant arrears who are not facing eviction because they are coming in to negotiate an arrangement and are meeting it.

"They should pay something of their arrears and as long as they do that on a consistent basis, we'll work with them.

"The people who have been evicted are the ones who say: 'Forget it, you are the bottom of my bill list and if I have anything left, I'll pay you'. Inevitably haven't (anything left) and they think there will be no consequence to that.

"It is a small number of people that are evicted. There is a far larger group who are in arrears and the message to that group is they have to sort out their affairs and not get in the position of being totally irresponsible."

Responding earlier at a press conference to criticism that a planned eviction of a mother was heartless, Sen Burch said: "I take exception to people trying to tell me how one should relate to other folk. "I grew up in this country in a poor family and when people at BHC tell me about over-crowding, two or three in a room, it is not something foreign to me.

"This Government's position has been one of entire responsibility and care and concern for children in that we have not, as in the past, put people with families on the street.

"(We need to) teach children, as parents and adults, that you must be responsible for your actions.

"Part of our problem (at BHC) is that we've seen a generation of clients brought up in a culture where you don't have to take responsibility for your actions.

"At the end, its about fairness. You can expect from me that you will get honesty, and straight from the hip. That's who I am."

In other matters, Sen Burch said the corporation, which normally has three property managers, only has one. One applicant has been recommended for one post, meaning BHC is one down.

Former BHC property manager Terrence Smith was sacked last year together with general manager Raymonde Dill following a raft of allegations of corruption and mismanagement at the corporation.

A Police fraud investigation at the corporation has been going since at least last March.

Sen Burch also said a series of meetings is planned with senior citizens at Bermuda Housing Trust properties at Elizabeth Hills, Heydon Trust, Purvis Park, and Ferguson Park to discuss progress on security upgrades.

And BHC is to review how its eight condominium complexes, which were intended to be self-managed, are run.

Currently only one of the complexes is self-managed. Sen Burch said more self-management would make these communities more responsible for their own problems and highlight issues quicker.