Changing Profile of Homeless in Barbados Raises Concerns for Public Safety, says Advocate

The nation’s leading advocate for the homeless has told City merchants that the types of people living on the streets of Barbados are changing, with some homeless individuals displaying more violent behaviour, which might lead to public safety concerns.

Speaking during a consultation on the homeless with the business community at the Frank Collymore Hall, Kemar Saffrey, the head of the Barbados Alliance to End Homelessness (BAEH) said the tolerance level for street people was fast on the decline.

“An average person that is homeless takes about six months to a year to become a vagrant. If we continue along that [road], we may find that more people become aggressive,” he said. “The general public may have to protect themselves from some of those persons who are more aggressive.”

He recalled an instance last week where police had to be called in to take one of the homeless shelter’s clients who was having a mental episode.

“[Police] didn’t come in a [vehicle], they walked,” he told the gathering. “If it was 90 people that passed, the majority were saying it was about time [that he was taken away]. People were happy to see him off the street.

The BAEH president organised the talks with the business district on ways to deal with the problem of vagrants occupying their properties and deterring customers.

“I want to look at it as a partnership,” he said. “We understand the issues that you face on a day-to-day basis. Having your business affected . . . . We saw recently in the Press that a homeless person took up residence in the ATM of one of the banks.

“We know that in some businesses, your customers can’t get in there because of the number of persons that are coming and laying outside the business, with all the bags and smelling . . . . We understand the issues that you face. How can we partner? Because we do not see it as just the work of the [Alliance],” Saffrey added.

(RG)