The Barbados Alliance to End Homelessness (BAEH) has seen a 30 per cent increase in the number of people living on the streets over the past two years and a drastic shift in the reasons people have no fixed place of abode.
In an interview with Barbados TODAY, BAEH president Kemar Saffrey said he was worried about the recent trends.
He explained that the spike in homelessness correlated with many of the negative fallouts from the COVID-19 pandemic, such as increasing unemployment, and what was more disturbing was that more women and children were requesting frequent assistance from his organisation.
Saffrey said that years ago, the main root causes of homelessness were drug abuse and mental health issues. However, he said, many more people were out on the streets due to family disputes and unsustainable living conditions.
“We have found that more women are becoming homeless and, as a result, more children are becoming homeless as women take their children with them. We are getting one or two cases of domestic abuse but mostly a breakdown in families,” he said.
“People are having a lot of family issues and are leaving their homes for one reason or the other. So, we are finding that a lot of the cases of homelessness are from family disputes, especially in the case of women, and also unemployment.”
Saffrey added that in many instances, living arrangements with partners and friends were not always sustainable and some women fell victim to mental or physical abuse as they were not independent.
He said these women were coming to the BAEH’s Spry Street, The City shelter with no fewer than two children and on some occasions, there were as many as ten women along with their children there nightly.
Overall, Saffrey said, the number of people seeking shelter jumped from seven to ten per month to one to two people daily. He said last month was a record and a chunk of those cases were women and children.
The BAEH head anticipates there will be a further increase.
The organisation’s shelter can accommodate up to 90 people and Saffrey said people were calling up to two weeks in advance asking for a spot.
As the BAEH celebrated its 13-year anniversary on Wednesday, Saffrey said efforts were being made to improve its outreach and resources.
He said the charitable organisation was the main primary care and homelessness rehabilitation agency in Barbados and its services were in high demand.
Saffrey said if the organisation helped “ten people to get off the streets, 20 more people were in need”.
“There is a worrying concern about the [number] of people showing up. There was a high level of homelessness before but now that people are getting more familiar with the shelter then we find more people coming because of the services we offer,” he said.
He added that, based on the BAEH’s surveys, there were well over 300 homeless people in Barbados and most of them were living on the streets in central areas such as Bridgetown, Oistins, along the South Coast, Holetown and Speightstown.
However, he said there were many more in rural areas that were not accounted for and it was the aim of the BAEH to find these people and provide support.
(sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb)
