Concern about people on Christ Church streets as a few get shelter

At least four people who once made a home in a former automotive business in Worthing are due to get temporary shelter.

But the development has brought attention to increasing homelessness along the tourism corridor that stretches through Christ Church.

By the weekend, the four are expected to be among the residents of the 24-hour shelter operated by the Barbados Alliance to End Homelessness (BAEH) which on Thursday offered the homeless help after community activist Adrian Donovan highlighted their plight.

BAEH president Kemar Saffrey told Barbados TODAY four of five people responded positively. Two others – a man and a woman – were not present during the visit and he said his team would return to the area.

“There are some persons here that are challenged with mental health issues,” Saffrey said. “I’m hearing of family issues among some of them as well, that they can’t go back by family houses. They don’t have any benefits, unemployment benefits and invalidity benefits or otherwise, so they can’t take care of themselves and they are just out here, you know, begging day to day to see if they could survive.

“We have the issue not only in this predicament, where landlords are evicting people without giving them 90-day notices and then people are becoming homeless due to that…. We are seeing drugs is also a major factor here, with alcohol being a main contributor to why there are homeless out here.”

Saffrey chided property owners for not doing more to secure their properties which he said often led to unsightly conditions similar to those at the Worthing facility where there were piles of garbage and the hoarding of materials of all kinds.

“Property owners need to play a much more responsible role in terms of their properties because they, too, allow for persons to just come on their properties. And then it is turned into an unseemly site and then persons are then saying, ‘look at outside here’. And then they think that the organisation could come with a rake and a broom and just clean it up. It doesn’t work like that, you know. Persons will go where they see vacant property where they think it’s safe; they bunch up together for the comfort, for the safety.”

The advocate for the homeless expressed concern that most of those at the location were elderly. He noted that this is a growing trend islandwide that should be addressed by the National Assistance Board. He insisted that the elderly population should be off the streets and he urged the government to do more to ensure seniors are taken care of.

Donovan expressed concern that Christ Church was listed by the BAEH, along with St Michael, as areas where there is an increasing number of homeless persons on the streets.

“We are trying to help these people, we don’t want to downgrade them or put their pictures on TV to hold them up to scrutiny. We want to help them,” he said. “I called Mr Saffrey and within 48 hours, he responded and we arranged a meeting and he brought his team here today [with help] which includes giving them some food, medical attention and whatever else they needed.”

Saffrey revealed that the BAEH is also addressing issues in Oistins and Bridgetown and insisted the efforts had little to do with the country’s hosting of the ICC’s T20 Men’s Cricket World Cup next month.

“We are working with the World Cup team to address it, but I think for Ambassador [Noel] Lynch we are not just looking at World Cup, we’re looking at long-term plans, long-term solutions and once we could do that, we are good to go,” he said, adding that they were still deliberating measures to be implemented.

Saffrey noted that in March alone, there were close to 16 new homeless people on the streets.

“Those are just the persons that are known to us,” he said. “I met a lady yesterday with two children. She was homeless for two weeks. I met another lady again with two children and all of those persons are at the shelter now. And so, yes, we have seen our numbers increase. We have seen the shelter usage increase.”

Saffrey again stressed that homelessness was not merely a problem for the BAEH but required a multi-agency approach.

“Different agencies, as I said, have to play that role,” he said. “If there are persons with mental health issues, that needs [the Psychiatric Hospital]; a person needs housing, Welfare [Department] is there for providing the rental assistance. As I said, the shelter is 24 hours; therefore, the shelter is here for them to be able to stay in but we have to address the fact that some of these persons do not want to come off the street.” (SD)