Homeless people in Barbados will have a 24-hour shelter that will provide them with three square meals a day and access to onsite medical services, in another two weeks.
Government has announced that it will be pumping $252 000 into the operations of the Barbados Alliance to End Homelessness (BAEH) to transition its 90-bed shelter in Spry Street, Bridgetown to a 24-hour facility from October 1, and it will be scrutinising how the funds are used.
During Thursday’s post-Cabinet press conference at Ilaro Court, Minister of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs Kirk Humphrey said the decision to partner with the registered charity, which already receives a subvention from the Government, was necessary in light of the growing number of homeless people in the island’s capital.
“So, in this regard, we are going to be having a relationship with the Barbados Alliance to End Homelessness, and they have a capacity for 90 persons, which means that during the day, there are 90 available spots. We will be partnering with them to be able to deliver this 24-hour homeless shelter.
“We believe that we will immediately see a reduction in terms of the people in town if they agree. I want to make it very clear that this is not a case where we are going to be going and dragging men and women against their will into some institution,” Humphrey said.
The minister said those staying at the facility will have access to a doctor, a nurse, two security guards, counselling sessions, and three meals a day, in addition to other support systems.
He made it clear that the Government will have input in who will be employed to fill the additional positions that will be required at the BAEH for the 24-hour shelter to run efficiently.
Humphrey said a manager will be employed to run the operations at the shelter.
He disclosed that after one year, the Government will evaluate the project.
“We intend to be a lot more detailed in our scrutiny of these organisations. It is not only this entity that I have given support to. The ministry actually supports a number of organisations. We support organisations that deal with children, persons with disabilities, with the elderly – and that’s a significant number.
“And we made a determination that we were going to be a lot more involved in a lot more scrutiny of audits where necessary to ensure that the Government’s resources are best utilised and also to determine that what you are engaged in doing you are actually achieving to make sure you are fit for purpose,” Humphrey said.
He noted that apart from the BAEH, Barbados only has two other facilities catering to the homeless – the 24-hour Clyde Gollop shelter which currently houses 34 men who have to provide their own food and other necessities, and the Salvation Army male hostel and feeding shelter which caters to 21 persons, with a small fee attached.
“The Barbados Alliance to End Homelessness offers a much wider variety of services, caters to the various needs of persons who would be homeless, and has the capacity to hold 90 persons.
“One of the challenges that we had is that the [BAEH] can only have a person during the day because of cost constraints. So they operate [only] during the night. They operate from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., which means that during the course of the day, persons who are homeless really have no facility. The other thing is that nighttime is probably not the best time for interventions for counselling, medical interventions, and so on,” Humphrey pointed out.
The announcement comes on the heels of calls from BAEH president Kemar Saffrey last month for assistance to allow the shelter to be open 24 hours. He said his organisation did not have the staff and other resources to leave the shelter open during the day.
He spoke on the heels of public criticism when a young homeless mother, Danae Gibbons, who had been staying at the shelter during the day with her two toddlers, spoke about being forced to leave the facility during the day.
The children were subsequently placed in the care of the Child Care Board but are expected to be reunited with their mother who has since got a job and has agreed to accommodation selected by the state.
Minister Humphrey said that for the Government to be able to address the challenges facing homelessness adequately, the 24-hour shelter was needed.
He said partnering with the BAEH will allow the Mia Mottley-led administration to save a significant amount of money since it would be a costly undertaking for the state to attempt to operate such a facility on its own.
“We also feel that we have to build on the expertise where the expertise exists. And there is no doubt that there is tremendous expertise in the Barbados Alliance to End Homelessness.
“But the operation doesn’t end there. We have already had conversations with persons who are offering feeding, for example, and we have said to them ‘we want to support you, too’, to give them a little financial wherewithal to go further and to be able to treat other people as well,” Minister Humphrey said.
