Club Med squatters say they will not move and urged Government to help them fix the area up instead.

Around 40 people live in the former hotel occupying studio, one and two bedroom apartments.

Many said they had lived in the hotel — closed down in 1988 — for months because they had no other options.

In early March, Housing Minister David Burch said he planned to evict all the squatters because it was unsafe.

The Senator also appeared to call some of the residents “monsters”, telling Senator Gina Spence-Farmer: “If you ever expect to govern those very same people you have turned into thinking Government will be my mamma, my nanny and change my diapers and do everything for me will be the same monsters that we are having to deal with today.”

But the residents, who would not give their names, said they were not monsters — just people struggling to get by and keep a roof over their heads. One woman said: “What does my government want from me? I work two jobs I spent years paying rent but then my landlord wanted the place back. I couldn’t find anywhere that was affordable.

“We are not monsters we are just trying to live, many of us have fixed up our rooms and keep the area clean. Would my Government prefer me to live in a cave?”

The woman said many of the residents would be happy to pay a reasonable rent and all they needed from Government was to have the electricity and plumbing fixed.

Another woman who arrived at Club Med on November was angered by the Senator’s remarks. “How dare he call us monsters! He has not even been down here to look at our homes. Someone came back in November but nothing since then.

“How can he say these things when he hasn’t even bothered to come here and visit us. We voted in change when we voted for the PLP and now look, they want to kick us out and leave us living in the streets in our very own country.

“They can try and move us out but I am not going. I will just come back here.”

A mother who has worked for the Government for 30 years said she and her teenage son have been on the Bermuda Housing Corporation list for five years. They spent months hopping from one family member to another, sleeping on floors and in cramped conditions.

Eventually in October she said a friend suggested she move into Club Med. The woman cleared a one bedroom apartment of rubbish and scrubbed it down before moving some furniture in.

Until recently she planned to move into a two-bedroom apartment next door, which she has also been cleaned and painted.

“Now with Sen. Burch saying he is going to evict us I am not sure if I should move in or not,” she said. “What I don’t understand is where they are going to move us? I’ve been on the waiting list for five years. If they have someplace why haven’t they offered it to us already? I just don’t understand why they want to kick us out. We are good people here and we have no place to go. All we need is some running water and electricity.

“We aren’t looking for handouts and we’re not taking advantage of anyone by staying here — it’s our only option.”

Several of the apartments have been painted and decorated. Most contain generators for small TVs and refrigerators and some people even have water pumped in. Most of the residents have to walk to the tank that is nearby and collect water in buckets. Many of the residents live alone, though there are three families living there.

It is not known where the residents will go if they are evicted. Last week Sen. Burch said he was considering a proposal for an alternative living arrangement for tenants already registered with the Bermuda Housing Corporation. The arrangement does not cover other people believed to be living there who haven’t notified the Government of their presence.

“We are evicting all of the tenants at Club Med. We have no choice but to do so. That’s what everybody in this country who has complained of our lack of action has asked for.

“We must not allow our citizens to live in a building that is clearly dangerous.”

The residents said most of the people living there have been registered with BHC for years and were angered with his comments saying they felt like political footballs.

“They haven’t bothered to care about us for months and have left us to our own devices,” one woman said. “And suddenly because Gina Spence-Farmer says something Sen. Burch decided to close us down and says the people of Bermuda want us out.

“We are the people of Bermuda and we want a roof over our head. All we are asking for is some help fixing it up and then we will be happy to pay reasonable rent.”