‘Huge willingness to work together’ to end homelessness
A quick shop at the supermarket is a thing of the past for Denise Carey as people stop her in the aisles, giving her ideas on how to end homelessness.
Doors that were closed are now wide open and welcoming, phone calls that were ignored are being answered. Help, in many forms, has been overwhelming.
Such was the response after The Royal Gazette teamed up with Ms Carey and the charity Home to help end homelessness.
However, as Ms Carey, the charity’s executive director, explained, the response she gets now is a world away from when Home was first established in October 2021.
She said: “The board, the staff, myself, we were really looking forward to introducing Home to the community.
“We expected everyone to be proud and wanting to be a part of bringing about change. That was not the reception that we received.
“We soon found that people were very scared, very intimidated, extremely cautious about working with the homeless population.
“We quickly realised that people did not, our community did not, see homelessness as an experience. They saw homelessness as a person.
“When we started working with The Royal Gazette to share what homelessness actually is, to introduce people behind the data, to share what their stories are, the response shifted almost immediately.”
The Royal Gazette, in conjunction with stakeholders including Home, has launched its Ending Homelessness campaign to remind the community that the homeless matter.
Home, and others, want to end homelessness. So do we. We want your support. We want you to change your perception of the homeless. We want you to help lobby for simple changes. We want you to show compassion.
Homeless people want to work so that they can be self-sufficient. They did not choose to be homeless and in many cases their plight was brought about by systemic failings in this country.
As the response changed, so did Ms Carey’s experiences.
She said she could tell that people were sitting down and reading the Gazette articles, introducing homeless people and their stories, “from start to finish”.
As a result she now receives phone calls every day from people talking about homelessness or “asking me questions about the definitions of homelessness or bouncing ideas off me about how to engage people”.
Ms Carey explained: “The line of communication suddenly opened. People became less fearful. People started to call, e-mail, invite Home to do presentations, whether it be to an international business or a small business.
“The schools have also opened their hearts and opened their doors to invite Home in to talk about issues associated with homelessness.”
In 2010, the Bermuda Census identified 82 people experiencing homelessness. By 2016, that number had risen to 138.
According to Home, the Department of Statistics developed those estimates based on counting rough sleepers and the population housed in the Salvation Army emergency shelter.
As of December 31, 2023, Home recorded Bermuda’s homeless population as 811.
Ms Carey said she found that people wanted to have a better understanding of the issue and were becoming more open to a Bermuda without homelessness.
The community became more constructive in their suggestions, she said, and there was now a “huge willingness to work together”.
As well as a change in community perception, there have also been material benefits, such as people coming forward with job offers and a desire by landlords to learn more about the issues around homelessness.
There have also been noticeable — positive — changes in the behaviour and personal outlook of members of the unsheltered population.
“People are offering them employment opportunities that they had not been offered previously,” said Ms Carey. “We have had hotels, restaurants, private businesses, entrepreneurs all call.
“We’ve also had private landlords call to ask more questions to see how they could potentially work with Home to introduce more social housing.
“Service providers have also shifted a bit, with more focus on not only providing support for the homeless, but to provide support for as long as they need it.
“There’s been shift all around.”
On what impact the change has had on the homeless people she sees, Ms Carey said: “Self-confidence is the first, they understand that there is a place in our community and they have to prepare themselves to enter that space.
“It is less about members of our community giving a handout and more about inviting persons experiencing homelessness to be a part of something meaningful.
“They are definitely more outgoing than they used to be. They tend to be very shy, but I found that their confidence has been very evident and that’s largely due to the community being more welcoming, more inviting, popping in [to Home], unannounced.
“We love it. We love that community spirit.”
Asked if that self-confidence would also bode well for the futures of individuals affected by homelessness, Ms Carey added: “Yes, it does and it assists them with developing relationships.
“They’re picking up the phone more and reaching out to their families. They are getting to learn more about their loved ones.”
Ms Carey was aware that the momentum gained cannot be lost and said it was important that Home, the Government and community partners started “delivering on some of the recommendations within the Plan to End Homelessness”.
A joint initiative between the Government and Home, the plan listed dozens of recommendations on how to help end homelessness.
Home is building a microsite on its website which will list all of its recommendations, what the action plans and timelines are.
In addition, Home has been identifying buildings that could be used for low-cost housing and supportive housing, a combination of housing with associated supporting services.
The charity is collecting more data to make sure decisions are driven by data.
It is also developing legislation specifically aimed at homelessness reduction, looking at fund development and increasing its marketing and communications.
“There are a number of things that we are working on and we look forward to inviting the community in to assist,” Ms Carey said.
“We will also be reporting on our actions.”
Although going to the grocery store “is no longer a 30-minute visit” and although there “is always someone who wants to talk about homelessness”, Ms Carey was delighted that, at last, people were prepared to address — and learn about — the issue.
She said: “I give multiple presentations every week and I start every presentation with ‘who can tell me the 13 subcategories of homelessness?’.
“I ask that now because people are able to answer me. People are reading, they are learning, they are going out of their way to research online. They’re telling me what they’re finding in other jurisdictions.
“Homelessness is a mammoth task, but it is one that we all agree on — that we could actually work together to end homelessness and keep it ended.”
• People living rough
• People staying in a night shelter
• People in accommodation for the homeless
• People in a women’s shelter
• People in accommodation for immigrants
• People due to be released from institutions
• People receiving longer-term support, due to homelessness
• People living in insecure accommodation
• People living under threat of eviction
• People living under threat of violence
• People living in temporary/non-conventional structures
• People living in unfit housing
• People living in extreme overcrowding
• To see the Plan to End Homelessness, see Related Media
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