UPDATE: Adina Donovan Home will not be for homeless – PS Davies
Mrs Davies was at the time addressing the call by Mr Jonathan Freeman for government to provide a facility for the homeless. She said while government provides support to homeless individuals through various programmes, there are no immediate plans to establish a homeless shelter to house them together. "Homeless shelters are typically operated by charities or other community organisations," Mrs Davies said.
However, she noted that government does pay special attention to the homeless, most of whom end up in the street as a result of mental conditions. “I wouldn’t say all of them have mental conditions but that is the situation in most cases.” She said the Social Development Department works with each person on an individual basis and in some cases have them go through a programme that would sometimes see them returning to a family setting, getting jobs, among other things. “But like I said, it is something that is done on an individual basis as each case is unique.”
According to Mrs Davies, there are cases where homeless persons in the VI refuse to return to a home setting. She explained that there are some family members who do commit to care for their homeless relatives but are rejected. She also said government has taken the concerns of citizens regarding homeless persons seriously to the extent that a survey was recently conducted. The results of that survey are yet to be published.
In response to Mr Freeman’s call for the Adina Donovan Home in Road Town to be dedicated to housing the homeless when the new facility at Spooner’s Estate is completed, Mrs Davies said the Minister for Health and Social Development Hon. Ronnie W. Skelton had said from the onset that the building would be converted into a temporary shelter for persons suffering from mental health challenges and may require hospitalization but may need to have a more long term care before returning to their regular environment.
“Hospitalization would be for persons with acute situations but they may require a longer time of support after the hospitalization stage so the Minister has said that when the ADH is moved the current building will be set up to cater for those persons. Again that would not be a permanent home but a temporary care facility until they are capable of returning to their regular homes and back into society,” explained Mrs Davies.
The construction of the new home for the elderly at Spooner’s Estate has been deemed necessary by Government owing to the fact that the existing home is incapable of providing a safe and comfortable haven for the rapidly rising need and growing population of elderly requiring their services and in-home care.
See previous article posted July 29, 2013
Homeless persons in VI want Govt's help
- Say Government does not care about them
Amidst public cries that vagrants, the destitute and the homeless are becoming a steadily increasing public nuisance, is also the call for those persons to be provided a fixed place to live.
However, the call is not being made by members of the public but rather by the homeless themselves.
Virgin Islands News Online has been tracking vagrants, the destitute and the homeless especially around Tortola for the past few weeks and it was discovered that indeed they are becoming an increasing nuisance to society, something that does not auger well, especially for the tourism fabric of the Territory.
Frequent abuse, foul odors, distractions are all words that can be attributed to these persons. This news site was able to sit down with a homeless man who said that he has been out in the streets for approximately five years now and wishes for the day that he could get a chance to turn his life around for the better.
“Government not doing anything for us, nothing really they aint doing for we,” said the homeless man who gave his name as Jonathan Freeman. His ability to speak was somewhat impaired and it took careful listening to understand what he was saying even though he repeated himself several times to ensure we understood.
Mr Freeman lives at an incomplete building that sits between Scatos and LIME along Flemming Street in Road Town. That is where he spends most of his time and in the company of another homeless man who was not present at the time of our visit. Freeman had given his friend’s name as Smith. “Them other men does just come here to burn their joint but is only the two of we living here. We get we bed out of the garbage but we don’t eat out of the garbage and I taking my medication because I does go to the hospital and get my treatment,” he added
“If they give us a place to say we will go and stay in it but nobody cares about us, we are insignificant.” He said he ended up in the street following a mental condition. When asked if his mental condition was as a result of the use of drugs, he broke into tears and declined to answer.
“I am sure I will get better one day and get to live a better life. If they give us the old people home when they move them would be a good thing you see,” Mr Freeman said.
The man added that because of his medical condition he stays at his home on most days except for Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays when he goes to the Adina Donovan Home for meals. “Yes I got relatives and they does come one, one time and check me out but I don’t have any children.”
Asked if he accesses the services of Sandy Lane Centre, Mr Freeman replied, “Waste of time, I go to the senior people home.”
Several efforts were made to ascertain the level of support that government has in place for vagrants, the destitute and homeless persons but to no avail. However, Minister for Health and Social Development Honourable Ronnie W. Skelton has promised an interview on the issue sometime for today.
This news site understands that there is no policy that governs the handling of vagrants, the destitute and homeless persons but there are some levels of intervention that is organised through the Social Welfare Department in collaboration with the Sandy Lane Centre.
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42 Responses to “UPDATE: Adina Donovan Home will not be for homeless – PS Davies”
NDP treated we who not homeless like sh1t must less the wear and homeless…no surprise here!!!
Yel's bro, an ndp crony and former party chairman, has made a fortune with lucrative govt contracts. the money would have been better spent on these unfortunates.
These vagrants can get loud and rowdy sometimes and the elderly does not deserve to be disturbed. I have seen this man with my own eyes taking drugs and not his prescribed drugs so don't let his words fool you, he's not trying to better himself or anything. I am pretty sure that if given treatment, he'll fall back into his old habit like times before.
A lot of these people out on the street have some sort of substance abuse. They need more than a place to live, they need some sort of counselling and they need to have some initiative themselves. Some of the blame for why these people are on the streets is to be had by these people themselves. When asked what can be done to help them do you hear any of these people saying something like, "I need to get myself clean so I can get a job?" No. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make them drink. Why don't you ask these people what they'll do after they get this shelter? They can't be expecting to just live in a place for free, make demands from society and then do nothing in return, can they? Is it fair to the people who go to work every day and pay their taxes to see their money squandered on people who have no intention on improving themselves and only want to take because they feel entitled to it?
The state of these vagrants disgust me. I try to be open because I don't know all their stories but what makes me mad about them is how they just walk around with their hands open; don't even offer to help carry your groceries to the car to say they earn the dollar the beg for. And I have seem some actually get upset with people because they didn't get what they want. It's not just their physical state that needs to be changed, it's their state of mind.
Also I have so many questions about this shelter, should it come to fruit.
How big would this shelter be? Who would be in charge of this shelter? Who would be allowed in this shelter? Would there be some sort of policy as to one should conduct themselves in this shelter? Would drug addicts and prostitutes be allowed in this shelter? Would kids be allowed in this shelter? Would immigrants be allowed in this shelter? Or would it be just for BVIslanders? Would the genders be separated while staying in the shelter (i.e. males on one side, females on the other)? Would there be some sort of security to protect the people in the shelter as well as workers? How many beds would be in this shelter? Who will pay for this shelter? Would there be some sort of limit as to how much and how long one can stay in this shelter? If there is more people in need than beds, how would who gets in be determined? Would there be some sort of hygiene policy while staying in the shelter. What about food? If these people can't afford homes, they would probably be struggling to eat as well. Would food be provided for these people? Would this be a project that starts well but just falls to the wayside?
These are things that need to be thought of by the government before they decide to take action.