Homelessness

The Dark Side of Urbanisation- Homelessness

             "Like a man who has been dying for many days, a man in your city is numb to the stench.” 
                                                                                             ― Chief Seattle

This image shows two homeless males in the capital city of Trinidad, Port-of-Spain- the left resides on George street and the right Independence Square. The picture on the right specifically shows the mentally of many persons in Trinidad as she just walks by casually completely ignoring the guy. It is not surprising that this happens, our culture has become shifted from community based values to individualistic values whereby everyone cares for themselves. Homeless people are often discriminated against, victimized, frowned upon and severely rejected by the public. Societal issues is the major cause of homelessness as there is extreme disparities with respect to the distribution of wealth- cities become developed and the focus is on economic growth and political growth whilst social growth takes a back seat.

  Grant (2008) stated that homelessness in Trinidad is an urban problem , because the urban centers are where the financial exchange takes place and where the action is so therefore it is the place to be in order to survive. He also stated that homeless people are victims of poverty, adult abuse , mental illness, prisons, children's homes, child abuse, domestic abuse and drug abuse.. Gopie ( 2012) emphasized that mental illness is one of the main causes of homelessness in Trinidad. Many citizens that has some sort of mental illness is usually neglected by their family members as they become a burden to them and facilities in Trinidad are in the minority using old methods and are overcrowded. As a result these people are kicked out of their homes and have no where else to live but the streets.

  This is not a problem for Trinidad alone a report by the US Conference of Majors on 26 December 2012: showed that despite the dwindling resources, US cities are facing an increasing demand to provide emergency food and shelter to poor. In its annual report on hunger and homelessness, the US Conference of Mayors noted that in more than 64 per cent of cities homeless families were being turned away by emergency shelters because no beds were available. Additinally emergency kitchens and food pantries in many cities had to serve smaller meals to clients. In many instances the lack of resources meant people in need had to be turned away.This problem is not restricted to Trinidad it is worldwide and as urban centers continue to grow and expand homelessness would continue to thrive.

 Ones attitude needs to checked when dealing with the issue of homelessness. In Trinidad the stigma against vagrants is so strong and we as a  people fail to see human beings suffering on our streets. Instead we see helpless subhumans that bought this problem on themselves. Even though yes some of the vagrants in Trinidad are drug abusers and alcohol abusers there is no substantial help for them to cure them of their addiction. The saying goes you cannot help someone who does not to help themselves but, homeless people because of how they look and smell are denied access to health care and other basic needs therefore because we turn them away initially it is only natural that their response is to disregard us. It is truly sad and heartbreaking that we as people can ignore and watch blankly other human beings like ourselves suffer on the streets with broken bones, mentally illness and various illness and say comfortably that they put themselves there so why should I care.  Until our attitudes are changed and wealth is distributed evenly within a country then homelessness would continue to increase.


“For those who are lost, there will always be cities that feel
like home.”― Simon Van Booy
We are in danger of making cities places where business goes on but where life in its real sense is lost- Hurbert H. Humphery

Extra Reading 
http://www.catholicnews-tt.net/archives/08/08/03/viewpoint.htm
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/commentaries/Tackling_homelessness_in_T_T-160782245.html
http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,75537.html