The crisis someone goes through when they lose their home is difficult for most of us to imagine. Homelessness crumbles the foundations of everyday life that most of us take for granted — where to sleep, where the next meal is coming from, where to find privacy.

Living with these uncertainties, as well as losing the sense of security, community and stability a home entails means homelessness is often traumatic for those experiencing it.

To put yourself in their shoes, it is important to remember their vulnerability. Research around the world has concluded the vast majority of those falling into homelessness have suffered trauma of some kind in their lives, a finding consistent with what we have learnt from our guests at Home.

Many suffered abuse or neglect in childhood; for others the trauma could be related to violence, domestic abuse, mental or physical health issues, or financial crisis. One study of homeless individuals in Sydney found all of the women and more than 90 per cent of the men reported experiencing at least one traumatic event.

This research, published by the Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry in 2000, also found more than half had witnessed someone being badly injured or killed, while 50 per cent of the women and 10 per cent of the men had been raped.

Trauma is a natural response to harmful and overwhelmingly stressful experiences. It leads to distrust and anxiety, and negatively affects our ability to function. This is why our Plan to End Homelessness emphasises the need for trauma-informed care. By understanding and acknowledging trauma and its impact, service providers can respond with the necessary sensitivity and empathy to win the confidence of those in crisis.

Every person who falls into homelessness has their own unique story and particular set of needs. Finding the right help among the multiple organisations working in the homelessness services space — many of them doing excellent work — is far from easy. Knowing which way to turn is a challenge.

Think about what they must consider: do they first call the Bermuda Housing Corporation or the Salvation Army? If addiction is part of their crisis, where can they go to receive a combination of shelter and addiction treatment? In the case of a mother with a child, should she be calling the Transformational Living Centre or Teen Services/Teen Haven?

If they successfully contact agencies willing to help, they then have to schedule an appointment to tell their story, which they may need to repeat five or six times until they find the necessary help.

In a caring society, no one at their lowest point should have to go through this cumbersome and stressful process.

There is a better way: the citizen-centric approach outlined in our Plan to End Homelessness, based on the concept of “one front door”, a single point of entry into the services system, with a single point of contact.

The vision is to put the client at the centre of the universe, where there is a magnetic pull of the right services towards them. This contrasts with the experience the client has today: navigating a fragmented system, when they may not have the wherewithal, insight or capacity to access the services they need.

This whole-system approach aims to immediately wrap the individual with the specific help they need, rather than spend potentially years without finding the connections that could result in a return to stable, independent living.

In practice, this would operate under a “duty of care” principle, putting responsibility on service providers to communicate with each other to find the right help for people in need. Technology will play a pivotal role.

Home has made great strides towards making this vision a reality, through our adoption of In-Form, cloud-based software developed in Britain by Homeless Link. During the two years since installation, it has proven its worth for our case managers, tracking data such as available beds, and client progress and activities. Non-profits in Britain, such as Trident Reach, the Simon Community and Stonewater, have found similar success with In-Form.

For In-Form to fulfil its potential to be the centralised platform for homeless services, many helping agencies will need to sign up to it. Home has invited non-profit agencies to join In-Form and we hope to have onboarded all our third-sector partners by the end of the year, with government agencies to be invited in 2025, as well as private landlords who provide social housing.

Having all these organisations in one system is the key to directing available resources to where they are needed. For example, if TLC became aware of someone in urgent need of shelter, it could log on to the system and see that Home has an emergency bed available, or a private landlord has a unit that has just become vacant.

For helping agencies, having relevant real-time, searchable data at their fingertips cuts down on hours of phone calls reaching out to landlords and food charities, or trying to get an urgent healthcare appointment or meeting with the Department of Financial Assistance. For clients, it means they get the help they need quickly.

With more than 800 people experiencing homelessness on the island, the issue is too large and complex for any one organisation to solve alone — even the Government. A citizen-centric system would prevent many episodes of homelessness occurring or recurring, through an empathetic approach that helps us work together as a community to ensure everyone in Bermuda has a place to call home.

• Denise Carey is chief executive and executive director of Home, a charity with the purpose of ensuring everyone in Bermuda has a safe, stable and sustainable place to live, and that new cases of homelessness are prevented. Contact her at denise@home.bm. To view Home’s 2023 annual report, or to donate, visit the Home website at www.home.bm