President of the Alliance to End Homelessness Kemar Saffrey has highlighted a worrying spike in homelessness across various demographics.
Saffrey said that with the small spike in the number of people using the Spry Street, Bridgetown shelter, there is a rising concern over people opting to stay on the streets because of drug dependency and mental health challenges.
Stressing the need for Government intervention and a multi-agency approach, the advocate called for policies that assist those who are on the outskirts of society and facing struggles with addiction, mental illness and other conditions that affect their decision-making.
“There needs to be some sort of intervention at a governmental level because those persons are on either Government property or private properties, and they are in large numbers.
“We need to look at laws that are passed to assist these persons, especially ones that are not conscious of their decision-making “There are growing [numbers of] homeless persons even to the point of chronic homelessness, which we would call vagrancy, where a number of young men are now at that chronic stage – and all to do with substances that they are using. And also linked to mental health,” he said.
Women and children make up the majority of the demographic that come to the shelter for assistance, Saffrey said.
“We are seeing a continuous rising number of women using the shelter, especially women with children. And this is not only just coming from the walk-in process or the referral process, but they’re coming from a number of agencies.
“What we are finding, though, is worrisome: the amount of women that are coming to the shelter due to discomfort at home, and some are saying that they have to give up sex for lodging and some are saying they’re not comfortable home, and that is putting a little strain on us in trying to accommodate those people,” he said.
That trend is also extending to men, with some relatives asking if the shelter can assist in taking them off their hands because of housing conditions or if they don’t feel safe.
“The shelter is also assisting as much men as it can, even though the men are not coming as they should because of their own drug addiction and substances that they can’t necessarily use in the shelter,” he added.
Saffrey noted that these restrictions sometimes lead to people refusing the shelter’s services.
“There are some gripes that the shelter has some stringent rules. But the stringent rules are to protect the women and children and the occupants of the shelter, so that there always is a safe environment within the shelter when anybody comes to the shelter,” he said. ( JRN)
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