MORE PEOPLE, including some teenagers, are showing up at the doorsteps of the Barbados Vagrants and Homeless Society, says president Kemar Saffrey.
“We are also seeing an increase in young persons becoming homeless from the age of 16 and up, so we can say that homelessness is not a respecter of age, because persons are coming of all ages and all walks of life,” he said.
In the last year, the president said, over 30 people in the 16 to 21 age range have asked for assistance and he said this was not always the norm.
Saffrey added that his organisation is currently assisting over 300 persons which he said was a “vast increase” over the 200 persons that the charity dealt with in the previous year.
He was speaking at a Press conference held the society’s Tudor Street, Bridgetown office where he gave an update on the society’s progress for the year.
The president revealed that the society has surpassed many of the targets it set for 2015.
He said an additional thirty people were accommodated in their Direct Care Ministries programme, which includes food, medical services and counselling. This programme initially targeted fifty people. (TG)
