A surge in homelessness across St Michael and especially in the city, has prompted urgent calls from Deputy Prime Minister Santia Bradshaw for a coordinated government and community response.
Bradshaw, MP for St Michael South East, voiced her concern at Tuesday’s Ideas Forum at Golden Square Freedom Park, urging a “whole of government” and “whole of society” response to the worsening problem.
She said: “I often remark that when I sit oftentimes on the wall just at the top of Parliament, just outside the Senate chamber, and I see the number of homeless people who are within that space across Independence Square, I think that, while we are able to do so much in terms of allocating funds, we need to address these issues frontally.”
Bradshaw stressed that many of those on the streets are also struggling with mental health challenges and should not be brushed aside or judged.
“Many people are suffering with mental health issues,” she said. “And I think this really has to be a whole of government approach, whole of society approach to be able to deal with these issues.”
“People who become homeless, oftentimes there is a history, a journey that they have travelled to reach that point. I think that instead of us sometimes frowning on people, we need to appreciate that there is a journey that they have walked to get to that point.”
The deputy PM suggested that the situation appears to be particularly acute in the St Michael constituencies and in the capital.
“In all of our communities, perhaps we see the issue of homelessness more in the St Michael constituencies than anywhere else — and if I am wrong, you can tell me — but I see it more all across St Michael and in particular in the city,” she said.
Bradshaw called for earlier and more structured interventions to support vulnerable people before they end up on the streets, as well as initiatives to help those already there find their way back.
“I think we need to make sure that we are able to have programmes that can address these things from an early stage, to be able to do the interventions that are necessary and to ensure that people can reintegrate easily if they have fallen on hard times and, for various reasons, may need the necessary interventions in order to be able to get back on their feet,” she said. (LG)
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