THERE IS SOME LIGHT at the end of the tunnel for 12 homeless people, who will be moving into temporary housing on February 1.
The men, aged 40 to 65, met the criteria outlined by the Barbados Vagrants and Homeless Society and will be moving into two houses where they will be involved in a six-month rehabilitation programme.
Chairman Kemar Saffrey said the society wanted to equip the men with the necessary skills to reintegrate them back into society.
“From this programme we will really know if we can actually take on – and we believe in ourselves that we can – the [many] affected people out there; such popular names as Ninja Man, George and those others.
“But for right now we’re working with guys who have been on the street for 20 years, some have been on the street for five to 20 years.
“Our main focus is to get these ones off the street, pilot them and see how best we can actually deal with them,” Saffrey explained.
Counselling will be a major part of the rehabilitation process, and the men will also have the opportunity to take various subjects at the CXC level and develop skills through the various programmes offered at the Barbados Vocational Training Board.
The men will not be allowed to come and go as they please while in the rehabilitation units. Saffrey said they would be operating under strict guidelines.
“They must stay in the home for the six-month period that we’re rehabilitating them and then another six months spent in our outpatient home, where they [live] by themselves with a two-year mentor and are able to work on our farm or any job attachment that we have placed them in, and earn some money,” he said, adding they would not be put back on the street.
He said they were also looking to have an adoption programme for people who cannot find a place on their own or with family.
Noting that a number of the homeless would have left land and other property behind, Saffrey said the society’s legal team would be working to get the properties back to the owners.
The programme is designed to assist 48 people over a two-year period. Even with assistance from Government and the Maria Holder Memorial Trust, the society is still short of the half-million dollars it will take to run the programme for the required period.
He said the society would work with what it had and stretch the money as far as possible, however.
It was not intended to be an all-male programme. Saffrey said a combination of “pride” and “dignity” made if difficult for women who lived on the street to come and say they were in need.
“We decided to go with the men for the first six months, but in the six months these other guys will be transitioning, we will seek and try our utmost best to find these ladies and somewhat lower their pride, and have them come into the programme because the programme was designed for both males and females and not males alone,” Saffrey said. (YB)