Third vice-president of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) Felicia Dujon says the Government needs to get concrete data on the true state of homelessness in Barbados if it wants to effectively tackle the problem.
She said while figures were being thrown around, detailed research was crucial to guide needed state programmes.
“How are you going to resolve or how are you going to tackle a problem if you do not really understand the figures or numbers that you are dealing with?” the human rights activist questioned on Thursday.
“We have not done what is necessary in terms of taking into consideration what are the key factors that cause homelessness. People do not just decide that they want to go on the streets or they want to leave their homes to go on the streets. So there are core issues that we need to tackle to see how we would prevent homelessness and how we are going to intervene.”
Dujon said Minister of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs Kirk Humphrey and Minister of Housing Dwight Sutherland must take a more inclusive approach to finding out how many people in Barbados are homeless and what communities they come from.
“We need the data so that the data can explain what is happening. We cannot just say, ‘Okay, we see ten people on the streets and we assume, well, these ten people are coming from the same economic background or they might have the same kinds of problems that have caused them to be where they are today’,” she said.
“And the reality is that we need appropriate housing options for people. We need some kind of a massive expansion of what we call publicly-owned houses for all income groups so that people who are renting, people who may not have what we call permanent housing facilities or opportunities, can tap into those resources that would be useful for them,” Dujon recommended.
The DLP executive member also suggested that future programmes to tackle the issue of homelessness must not be short-term.
She said some of the financial support the Government may be giving to the Barbados Alliance to End Homelessness should be geared towards permanent solutions.
“It is not only about building houses and ensuring that people have shelter, but what are some of the programmes that we can implement so that people can continue to have the opportunity and continue to live a life that is productive as opposed to having to be concerned about a basic need like shelter?” Dujon said.
“Many times, we do not think about shelter as being a constitutional right of persons. We think about food, we think about water, but shelter is one of the most basic forms of humanity that we can think about. So we have to do something about the homeless situation in Barbados. But first, we need research to provide us with the necessary data and information that would enable us to move forward with relevant programmes”.
(AH)
