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Former Culture Minister Dale Butler has made a ­documentary highlighting the plight of Bermuda's homeless.

The movie, Out Among The Ins, offers an insight into the hardships suffered by islanders who sleep on the streets.

But among the harrowing tales are also glimpses of hope.

These include "love birds" Pat and Butters, who are regularly seen sitting on the wall across from ­Supermart in Hamilton.

Mr. Butler said: "What amazed me was the ­resilience of people living in these exceptional ­circumstances and their adaptability.

"There is this one young man who used to be a ­student of mine, 29 years old, and he slept on a bench by the Foot of the Lane.

"His mom had died ­suddenly and she had ­really kept the family ­together - paying bills etc.

"When she died the ­family got into debt, the landlord had the family evicted and no one would take this young man in.

Insight

"Luckily someone at the Mid Atlantic Wellness ­Institute found him a job and his smile is slowly starting to come back.

"This documentary gives Bermudians a true insight to things like this that they don't see every day."

The film is Mr. Butler's third documentary.

He claims he "is no Steven Spielberg" but made the most of his "minimal budget".

Mr. Butler was the ­cameraman, interviewer and producer and single-handedly shot more than 200 hours of film, often in his lunch hour.

The movie - which ­features narration by Glenn Blakeney - includes interviews with the ­homeless, comments from Major Doug Lewis, ­divisional commander at the Salvation Army and Fern Wade of the Hands of Love Ministry.

The 70-minute documentary highlights the extent of homelessness in Bermuda - currently more than 200 people are without a home - and examines what the government can do to help them.

Mr. Butler said: "When I first became Minister I was handed over a report done by Nelson Bascome in 2002 on Bermuda's homeless population, which was led by Marva O'Brian.

"Immediately I jumped on it. From 2007 until June 2009 when I left I made the homeless my priority.

"Throughout the years I have taken thousands of photos and captured some real characters.

"I was going to take a break anyway from Cabinet but I thought, 'If I did, who is going to look into the homeless situation?'

"So I just kept staying and staying and staying and bringing it up at every party meeting.

"Even now I am no longer a minister I am going to continue with the homeless mission."

Mr. Butler claims the ­government has a "three-pronged approach" when addressing homelessness - get them into accommodation, provide basic services and rehabilitation and help them with the exit process.

Shelters

Mr. Butler said: "Government does not want to build long-term shelters.

"We don't want people living in there for 20 or 30 years - we want to get them on their feet and send them on their way."

Mr. Butler revealed that Government's aim is to ­replace the existing ­Salvation Army shelter in Hamilton with a three to four-storey building.

It has not been decided if it will continue under the name of the Salvation Army. The shelter budget is around $14 million but the recession has forced the plan to be put on hold.

Mr. Butler said: "A lot of the homeless I encountered were very, very personable and didn't grumble about anything.

"What the audience ­will discover is the reasons why people have found themselves on the street - through drugs, ­alcohol abuse, economic factors, mental illness or simply not being able to pay rent.

Patrons

"I found one couple sleeping on the side of the road - if a car has skidded into them they would be killed."

The film's patrons are Culture Minister Neletha Butterfield and Shirlene Bascome, the widow of late Health Minister Nelson Bascome.

Out Among the Ins will be shown at Liberty Theatre on Sunday, September 20, at 5pm. Tickets are on sale now from the theatre.[[In-content Ad]]

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