EVERY night 55 men and women make their way to the back of town to spend the night at the only home they have — the Salvation Army's emergency housing facility.Earmarked for a complete makeover several years ago by Government, this 27-year-old facility on Marsh Lane has yet to see revamping of any kind and is held together by the grace of God and the Salvation Army's ever-shrinking annual grant.

To make matters worse, much-anticipated funds failed to materialise in this year's Budget, leaving Salvation Army officers counting every penny until their Red Shield drive later this year.

Inside the four buildings, which resemble prefabricated dormitories, beds are neatly made, clothes hang against the wall and bathrooms are relatively clean.

But it's dark and grim.

The Salvation Army's Divisional Commander, Major Doug Lewis, said: "Who wants to spend 20 years in one of these beds? But they do . . . because they have nowhere else to go."

One resident has lived there for close to 16 years, another came 21 years ago and has since been employed by the Salvation Army as a supervisor.

Major Lewis said residents had lived there for years, because they literally had no choice.

"Where do we take it from here? There is no transitional housing we can work them into, there is no affordable housing that comes after that so we can get them back as contributing members of society," he said.

He dreaded the idea that Government plans to rebuild the facility to resemble warehouses filled with beds, saying: "They're looking at this idea of warehousing them. Build this place, get them off the streets and not have to worry about them."

That's not what he wants. He holds onto a dream of having the housing facility include classrooms, or training facilities where residents can learn computer skills, perhaps pick up a trade and eventually leave the facility with the tools they need to succeed.

"You have to work them through a cycle, otherwise we're just keeping them locked in sheds . . . or whatever these new buildings will look like, and not have the space or ability to teach them anything," he said. "We're the only advocates these people have."

He added: "The Minister (Dale Butler) seems genuinely concerned at our plight and we meet every other month to discuss plans."

But nothing definitive has come from these talks and it's now two years since Major Lewis' predecessor, Major Lindsay Rowe, was asked by Government and other top officers for input into what they wanted the facility to look like.

While the facility is owned by the Ministry of Social Rehabilitation, it is managed by the Salvation Army.

"We're basically just maintaining it. We have enough money to keep it as is now, but don't have any extra money to do any of the extra things," he explained.

"And not knowing what they (Government) are doing about the new facility . . . so even if we had the money, how much do you want to spend on a building if shortly they are going to tear it down? We're between a rock and a hard place."

As it is, a large section of the roof in the kitchen has collapsed, leaving a large cavity.

Major Lewis said the kitchen was not currently being used to prepare food, but he would like to use the facilities in the near future to prepare breakfast for its residents.

"I don't want to send them out onto the street on empty stomachs."

He said that the Department of Works & Engineering "come around" once or twice and work on it a while, then leave and don't come back, so the cavity remained.

When asked what he wanted from a new facility, Major Lewis said a facility that could house up to 200 people and include the necessary training rooms.

Why 200 people? He said no feasibility study had ever been done in Bermuda to determine the exact amount of people living on the streets.

"They don't consider themselves homeless because the car, the bus stop, the bush they sleep under . . . that's their home," he said.

Every night the Salvation Army takes to the streets in a van to feed Bermuda's so-called "homeless" and from past unofficial counts, he believed there are close to 500 people without homes and living in these conditions.

"Some of them will not come to a centre because in their minds they don't want to be institutionalised, and they're happy where they are . . . we can't force them to come here, but we try and meet their needs where they are."

Major Lewis said that by simply building a new facility, the so-called homeless problem would not go away and ultimately Government needed to look at the bigger picture.

Budget disappointment for the Salvation Army