It is going to be necessary for the Government and related non-state actors to determine what is driving the increased levels of dislocation leading to rising homelessness and vagrancy in this country.
As a nation that was known for the important role played by extended family members in shielding their own during tough economic and family trials, it is disconcerting to see the rapidly increasing homelessness situation.
The bodies can no longer be hidden; they are in plain sight. This is even with the government’s financial support for a 24-shelter service by the Barbados Alliance to End Homelessness (BAEH).
With last September’s announcement by Minister of People Empowerment Kirk Humphrey that the state would be pumping a quarter of a million dollars into the operations of the privately-owned BAEH to transition its 90-bed shelter in Spry Street, Bridgetown into a 24-hour facility from October 1, was indeed an acknowledgement of the pervasiveness of the issue in Barbados.
Let us not fool ourselves, however. There is still a segment of this country that is doing very well financially. They were either born into inherited wealth and stability which made their current lifestyle accessible, or through dint of hard work, they were able to maximise the opportunities this country provides through its free education system to achieve upward mobility.
There are others, though, who come from the underbelly of this country. They have an inheritance, not one of wealth but one of inherited poverty, less than acceptable upbringing, and low educational achievements.
Addiction and the general use of illegal drugs are also a factor that must not be discounted. Many of those ending up on our streets are addicted to alcohol or other substances. Whether the addiction is the cause or the effect, we are still to discover.
We do accept that poverty, illegal drug use, and other forms of addiction and their link to homelessness should not be underestimated. Alcoholics and drug users, including those hooked on marijuana, often display anti-social behaviours that make their presence in the regular home dynamics quite problematic.
The majority of households continue to be headed by women, who themselves are already burdened with several socio-economic challenges and may not be equipped to handle the difficulties that come with drug use and addiction.
The comments over the weekend by Minister Humphrey are, therefore, quite instructive. He acknowledged that it is going to be a tough Christmas season for many families which will result in increased demand on the country’s social services.
Humphrey said: “Evictions always place pressure on the ministry, especially the evictions of women with children. We’ve been seeing an increase of women and children coming to the ministry for assistance. We’ve been responding to that and are in the process of setting up a new unit we hope to call the Resiliency and Reintegration Unit, which will deal with a lot of these issues, pertaining not only to disasters but evictions as well.”
The Member of Parliament whose St Michael South constituency includes many working-class communities that bring him face to face with the poverty situation on the island, knows what he is talking about.He explained: “People are genuinely in need but because people are seeing
government has been responding, other people have been coming forward seeking assistance, so I anticipate this is going to be a difficult Christmas for most of those under the poverty line.”
In a clear indication that the needs of the poor in Barbados were growing at a much greater rate than the state may have planned for, he called on individual Barbadians and the corporate community to give more to those in genuine need.
As Christmas Day draws closer, we endorse Humphrey’s call to “feel free to give [our needy] something to eat, to give their children gifts and I think we will get through this”.
