Promise of comprehensive response to homelessness as couple gets help

Moved by a recent Barbados TODAY report of a young, intellectually challenged couple living on the streets of Bridgetown, Minister of Elder Affairs and People Empowerment Kirk Humphrey has stepped up to the plate to ensure they get shelter and other assistance.

He has also promised to address the wider problem of homelessness in a “comprehensive” way.

Humphrey told reporters on Friday that the plight of 19-year-old Amaris Gittens and her 22-year-old boyfriend Enrique Marshall, who had been making a home for themselves on the benches in Heroes Square and Independence Square, was painful.

“The story I saw was heart-wrenching,” said Humphrey. “. . . . The Ministry has already stepped in. We have already worked with [Founder of the Barbados Alliance to End Homelessness] Kemar Saffrey to be able to make sure [Thursday] night that they were accommodated.”

“We have already had them assigned to be evaluated and have assigned them residence. So at the end of the day they will be in accommodation that is safe for the two of them to be together. . . . So the public can rest assured they slept well last night. The public can rest assured they will sleep well again tonight, that the various facets of the Government and in particular the Ministry of People Empowerment is already working with them to help them transition.”

Humphrey said the couple would also be assessed to see if they can live on their own.

“The Ministry is working to make sure that happens, whether it is through [the] Welfare [Department] or the National Disabilities Unit (NDU),” he said, adding that the NDU would also be making sure that Gittens, who suffers from diabetes and kidney issues, and Marshall both get medical check-ups.

“So all of that is happening now [and] we also have to look and see if they need some kind of physiotherapist to be able to help them,” he added.

The couple had indicated that it has been roughly two years they were on the streets, but it has since emerged that it has been just about six months.

In any case, Humphrey said, a few months “is still too long”, adding that there were too many gaps in the social care system that he intended to frontally address.

He said the couple’s plight highlighted the need for a more preventative approach to tackling homelessness, and for facilities and systems to be put in place to help people with disabilities once they reach adulthood.

“That is one of the things we identified even before this case came to the fore – that for persons with disabilities, especially with severe disabilities, there needs to be a facility to allow them to benefit from some type of treatment and some kind of assessment.

“I think for me it is a lesson learned and for all of us an opportunity to focus with almost laser-like precision on the issues that affect persons with disabilities. I am thankful the public reacted the way they did. It tells us the collective conscience of Barbados is still alive,” he said.

In telling their story to Barbados TODAY, the couple had said they found themselves in their current predicament because of their refusal to stop seeing each other, as directed by their respective families. They explained their decision not to separate stemmed from Gittens’ alleged sexual abuse at the hands of a close family friend.

Acknowledging that there were various reasons for individuals ending up on the streets, either by force or choice, Humphrey maintained that it was important for the root causes of such situations to be investigated and addressed.

“Something often happens at the household level that pushes people there. These have been very difficult economic circumstances and have also led some people to find themselves in these circumstances. My position has been, in those cases where it is simply an economic issue and people are passing through poverty, our response must be to make that as temporary as possible, which means we would either have to give some financial support as we have done through the Household Mitigation Unit, as we do through Welfare,” he explained.

“Oftentimes when you see persons homeless there are other issues – Alzheimer’s and dementia, particularly for older people; other mental issues; lots of it sometimes is drugs. It is very difficult to handle a situation of homelessness that we consider to be voluntarily in its definition – where a person has a home or house where they can return to but for whatever reason they choose not to return to that house – and those are difficult because it often means it is not a housing problem, clearly, it is a problem associated with other issues,” he explained.

Humphrey pledged that his ministry will work “to understand what those other issues are and to be able to bring some resolution to the issues”.

He said that response must be multifaceted and include family, where possible.

“That is the approach we are going to take. It is the one I have been discussing with Mr Saffrey. I have also said we need to expand the facilities now, similar to the one that Mr Saffrey offers, and similar to the Clyde Gollop Centre for Homeless Men that we have, that we allow people to come in and stay 24 hours.

“We need more space, though, to be able to address them more. I think it could also be an issue of legislation to make sure we get people off the street, and to allow us to do so properly, because sometimes you have to save people from themselves. So it is comprehensive and I think we need to have a comprehensive response,” said Humphrey.
marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb