HOMELESSNESS
I would like to begin this Blog post not with text or a picture, but with a Video done by Kleon Mc Pherson - Free Speech Project, "A VAGRANT'S PLIGHT."
This Video Has summed up everything I have to say more or less of Homelessness in Trinidad and Tobago, but I will not leave it there.
The presence of
homeless people on the streets of a city is highly visible in San
Fernando. Most of which are located near the Nalis Library, near the
St. Joseph's Convent. Homelessness is an issue for cities both in
the Global North and the Global South, and is so in Trinidad and
Tobago. Not just in the city of San Fernando, but the entire country.
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| Street Dwellers in San Fernando "Vagrants-Ville" >> The term used by many when referring to this particular spot, because this was the spot where most of the Vagrants/Street Dwellers located. |
Homelessness.
What is It? What does it mean to be a homeless person?
Controversy abounds when it comes to defining homelessness. There is
more than one “Official” definition of homelessness. Health
centers funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS) use the following:
“A homeless individual is defined in section 330(h)(4)(A) as “an individual who lacks housing (without regard to whether the individual is a member of a family), including an individual whose primary residence during the night is a supervised public or private facility (e.g., shelters) that provides temporary living accommodations, and an individual who is a resident in transitional housing.” A homeless person is an individual without permanent housing who may live on the streets; stay in a shelter, mission, single room occupancy facilities, abandoned building or vehicle; or in any other unstable or non-permanent situation. [Section 330 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C., 254b)]”
Lost in the Crowd is a documentary film by Austrian filmmaker Susi Graf about LGBT homeless youth in New York City. The film tells the story of a group of kids focusing on how they became homeless and their attempts to survive on the streets of New York. Most of the youth say the reason that they’re homeless in the first place is because they have been rejected from their families. The following is the Trailer for the Film.
Other
names for homeless persons that we use in Trinidad includes: Street
dwellers, Vagrants, Hobos. Homelessness is a social issue, that
government's have been trying to deal with, caused by structural
inequalities and maldistribution of resources, making persons
vulnerable.
"There
are groups of people who experience homelessness in different ways,
but all homelessness is characterized by extreme poverty coupled with
a lack of stable housing. Children on their own or with their
families, single adults, seniors, and veterans compose various
demographic groups that may use different types of programs or
services or have differing factors that contribute to their
homelessness. There are also those who experience homelessness for
various lengths of time (short-term, long-term, or “chronic”) or
who experience multiple episodes of homelessness (moving between
housing and homelessness). Those who are “doubled up” or “couch
surfing” are also considered homeless if their housing arrangement
is for economic reasons and is unstable" (National
Health Care for the Homeless Council 2014.)
The
number of homeless persons in urban areas has increased at an
alarming rate. It is estimated that there are 30 000 homeless men and
6000 homeless women in New York City alone. (United Nation 2008)
Homelessness in Cities have grown to be of major concern. The causes of homelessness are diverse and are the results of a combination of personal and structural factors. According to Hall and Barrett (2012) key factors includes global economic changes, leading to increased migration and unemployment, decline in welfare, deinstitutionalization of mentally ill groups.
In
Trinidad and Tobago the street-dweller population grew by 13.4 per
cent over the decade 2000 to 2011.
The
distribution by sex remained predominately male and was 95 per cent
in 2000 as compared to 93 per cent in 2011. This was revealed by Dave
Clement, director of statistics of the Central Statistical Office
(CSO). The following link gives the Street Dwellers census.
Solutions?
The Minister of the People Dr Glenn Ramadharsingh is fighting the battle against street dwelling and homelessness. In an effort to curb homelessness the Government of Trinidad and Tobago has approved $17 million to address the vagrancy problem plaguing the country. More on this, can be found in the following article:
The
following link is a that video also sheds light on what is being done by Trinidad and Tobago's government on this issue.
References
Hall,
Tim, and Heather Barrett. 2012. “The informal economy in Cities –
alternative economic spaces.” Urban
geography.
London: Routledge.
National
Health Care for the Homeless Council. 2014. "What is the
official definition of homelessness?" Accessed April 10, 2014.
http://www.nhchc.org/faq/official-definition-homelessness/.
In addition to a link to the census, can you tell us how many homeless persons live in San Fernando?
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