The Tribune

THE Department of Social Services is investigating the circumstances of a man who a concerned citizen said had been living in an “outside toilet” for eight years.

However, an official stressed that the department “is satisfied that the building being occupied is not a toilet, but a renovated wash house.”

“And the amenities it lacks are accessible in a family owned house on the same property,” Social Services Director Mellany Zonicle said.

“The concerned appears to have some personal issues that will be addressed in conjunction with his family members, the department and other agencies.”

Earlier this week, concerned citizen and Tribune reader Deno Ellis shed light on the plight of an elderly Nassau resident who he said was “living in extremely poor and unhealthy conditions.”

According to Mr Ellis, inside the structure that the elderly man calls home are a number of buckets that he often used for toilet and water toting purposes.

In the wooden structure, there was a dirty bed on bricks with a string tied from one end being used for a closet, Mr Ellis added.

He said the elderly man claimed that during rainy conditions, the roof leaks heavily, the sewage overflows in and out of the tiny shack as well as all over the yard that he and his family members share.

“I begged my family to have work done to the sewage, because it overflows and settles into the yard, where I can hardly get out unless I walk through it,” the elderly man, identified only as Mr Saunders, said. “But no one wants to do it. I don’t know if they have the money, but it has to be done. I have a few buckets inside that I use when the septic floods and I have to take the stuff (waste) and throw it into the bushes down the road.”