‘I went to his car and I could see clearly – yes, he lived in that car’
As the car drew up, David Thompson was not sure that the driver really qualified for the food handout his church had organised.
He said: “You get people who stop by in a car, looking for a meal, and you kind of look at them and say, ‘well, hold on a minute, you can drive a car means you can afford to put gas in your car. You know, you are working’.
“I had one man come to me and I said, ‘if you’ve got a car, surely you can afford to buy food’.
“He said, ‘that’s my home’. He was probably in his early sixties. I went to his car and I could see clearly, yes, he lived in that car.”
It was just one of many different things that Mr Thompson hears and experiences as he and volunteers to help feed those in need at Christ Church Warwick, through the charity Loads of Love.
The Royal Gazette in conjunction with stakeholders including Home, a charity helping the homeless, 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 may 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.
Home has produced a report, Plan to End Homeless, which is out for consultation and points to issues and solutions to the homeless problem in Bermuda. It can be seen in Related Media.
Twelve years ago, Mr Thompson helped to start Loads of Love, converting one of the church buildings into a laundry and a shower facility — encouraging homeless people to visit the charity on Saturdays to for breakfast.
Then Covid struck and the need for help was suddenly exacerbated.
“The hotels closed, the airport was shut and a lot of guest workers here had no way of getting home, had no income because they had lost their jobs and they were looking for food,” Mr Thompson said.
“They were hungry, so we opened our kitchen.”
Despite the gradual return to normality over the course of the pandemic, the feeding programme continued — “because we realised very quickly that Covid brought to the surface some of the real issues that are going on in Bermuda”.
Mr Thompson comes across a range of issues. One family, he said, were told they did not qualify for financial assistance because they owned their home.
But, he added, the property had been left to them by their grandmother, they were unemployed with children, including a baby the mother had to look after full-time, so there was no money.
“What do they do?” Thompson asked. “Do you sell the house so that they’ve got some money to support the family? Then they have to find a place to live.
“Where do you go from there? You can sell the house, and then they’ve got a cash sum, but how quickly will you burn through that paying rent? Maybe they can buy a smaller house if they are lucky.“
Mr Thompson said he sees people who have jobs and are homeless, “which surprises me because you think, well, you know, you’ve got a job, you’re working, but then they’ve got a very low-paid job, or maybe they’re only part-time working.
“People say, ‘well, this guy’s got a job, why can't he afford a home?’ But think about how much it costs to live in Bermuda.”
He said he sees another gentleman who looks after his disabled son.
“He has to spend time looking after his son. He’s a pensioner. He gets a small government pension. He lives in a two-bedroom place and it’s $1,500 a month.
“He says, ‘I can’t even afford that, let alone put food on the table. Where do I go?’”
He is, adds Mr Thompson, relying on the benevolence of the landlord, as he is behind on his rent.
In 2010, the Bermuda Census identified 82 people experiencing homelessness. By 2016, that number had risen to 138.
According to Home, which produced the report, 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, 2022, Home had recorded more than 650 people experiencing homelessness.
Mr Thompson said at the other extreme were the people that you would not normally associate as being homeless.
“They are the ones that you have to really worry about.
“The ones that are falling through the cracks that we’re not really addressing. We don’t have any system other than the benevolence of charities and the churches.”
Asked how his experiences make him feel, Mr Thompson said: “Humble. There but for the grace of God, go I.
“I’ve been fortunate. I’ve had a job. I managed to raise my kids. I’ve worked, I’m a member of the church. I like to give back. I like to help. That’s always been my motto.
“You start to talk to these people, you start to get to know them and they’re educated people with a story.
“You have to stop and actually spend a little bit of time and talk to them to find out their stories. And they're interesting stories.
“Everybody’s got a story. You just have to dig into it a little bit and you understand what’s going on in their lives. And, yes, I feel humble.”
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