Speaking on UMOJA on Thursday, 12 November 2026, Dr Arlene L. Smith-Thompson said the issue goes beyond individual hardships and requires a deliberate, multi-pronged national response. Her remarks centred on the cost of living, employment readiness, and the need for policymakers to address the underlying conditions affecting people’s livelihoods.Photo: Facebook

Independent At-Large candidate Dr Arlene L. Smith-Thompson says the territory’s most urgent challenge is that many residents can no longer afford to live and thrive in the Virgin Islands as they once did. Photo: Internet Source

Dr Arlene L. Smith-Thompson announced in September that she would contest the next general election as an independent At-Large candidate, positioning her campaign as a break from party politics and the political status quo. Photo:VINO/File

Speaking on UMOJA on Thursday, November 12, 2026, Dr Smith-Thompson said the issue goes beyond individual hardships and requires a deliberate, multi-pronged national response. Her remarks centred on the cost of living, employment readiness, and the need for policymakers to address the underlying conditions affecting people’s livelihoods. 

“At the heart of it all is the fact that persons generally cannot afford to live in these islands anymore, the way we used to see people living and thriving,” she said.

‘How well are we really living?’

Dr Smith-Thompson said the territory should not simply ask whether people are surviving, but whether they are genuinely living well.

“So, the question that I think we all should be asking is, how well are we really living?” she said. “If so many persons, they just live from one paycheck to the next.” 

She argued that financial insecurity signals that deeper structural problems remain unresolved, and that political leaders must confront them directly rather than treating them as isolated issues.

Skills and opportunity

The independent candidate said any serious response must consider whether residents have the skills needed to access available employment, as well as whether meaningful opportunities exist for them in the first place.

“Are they skilled enough, for instance, to take up certain forms of employment?” she asked.

Dr Smith-Thompson said education, training, job creation, and economic opportunity must be addressed together if residents are to achieve greater financial stability. 

Call for coordinated action

Dr Smith-Thompson added she does not believe the territory has fully identified or addressed the root causes of its social and economic challenges.

“I don’t think that we really putting our arm on what the real issues are,” she said. “There needs to be a coordinated, intentional effort to really arrest a lot of these situations, and put the country and its people on a better course, a better path to a better way of living.”

Dr Smith-Thompson announced in September that she would contest the next general election as an independent At-Large candidate, positioning her campaign as a break from party politics and the political status quo.