By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

FIFTY rooms at the Poinciana Inn will temporarily shelter Hurricane Dorian victims in an agreement between the government and the hotel, the Ministry of Social Services announced yesterday.

The government wants to reduce the number of people at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium and the Bahamas Academy Auditorium and will shelter people at the hotel for up to 90 days, giving first consideration to families because of their privacy needs. The ministry and its partners originally housed more than 2,000 people in shelters across the country after the deadly September storm but now house fewer than 400 people at the two shelters.

The ministry said in a statement: “The ministry’s additional search and transitional accommodations resulted in negotiations with Poinciana Inn for a total of 50 rooms. The objective is to place families in those rooms –– which will afford them the privacy that families need.

“All the necessary due diligence was completed by technical teams from the Ministry of Social Services and Urban Development, the Department of Social Services and the Department of Gender and Family Affairs, in addition to a number of other government ministries, prior to entering into the agreement with Poinciana Inn.”

The ministry did not reveal costs for the arrangement.

Social Services Minister Frankie Campbell said in November that officials wanted to close all New Providence shelters by the end of the Christmas season, but he later reversed this position.

For his part, Iram Lewis, minister of state for disaster preparedness, management and reconstruction, has not said when the dome city in Abaco is expected to be completed to house hurricane survivors. Access to the domes will be free of charge, he has said.