Father, gombey captain, lives in a disused dog kennel
What Government is doing
Findings of Habitat Bermuda seem to be in sync with Government's Sustainable Development Strategy, which was mailed out to households. Key points in the housing section are:
The lack of affordable housing is at the root of many social problems
It can cause stress, resentment, xenophobia
It can lead to feelings of disenfranchisement and a lack of respect for society
48 per cent of Bermudians did not own their own homes in 2000 and rents are rising faster than incomes.
A 2005 study found that 22 per cent of Bermudian households with lower incomes spent more than 60 per cent of their income on housing
The costs to societies of children raised in families living under stressful conditions can be significant.
Early intervention is key and affordable housing and day care can help significantly
Services to help vulnerable members of society are fragmented — we need to fill the gaps with a social service system that efficiently meets their needs.
Early intervention is less costly than cures.
Goals should include developing and regularly assessing a comprehensive housing strategy; a housing summit to discuss a housing strategy and increasing the level of homeownership to 65 per cent by 2012.
Source: Bermuda Government's Draft Sustainable Development Stragety and Implementation Plan
Copeland Smith didn't need any convincing to have his picture taken for the paper. After living in a tent for the past six years or so, what's he got to lose? He wants us to see it.
"I live here because I can't afford to live anywhere else," he said. "I'm not asking for anything lavish, none of us are. We just want the basics at a price we can afford."
Mr. Smith is making maximum use of a disused dog kennel in Pembroke. He's got two rooms. The smallest is packed with belongings like books and clothes. Hanging on one of the dingy walls is a colourful Gombey outfit. He's vice captain of Richardson Gombey's, a troupe that's performed at all the big occasions. Tourists have no idea he comes home to this every night.
The larger room, which is still tiny, is dominated by a dome tent. Make-shift shelves against one of the walls hold coolers filled with other personal belongings, like his fishing gear. The roof is gone. It's not much, but this is his home.
Things turned sour about ten years ago, three years into his marriage. The couple moved from apartment to apartment but it reached a point where they couldn't find anywhere affordable to live.
She moved into a shelter, he rested his head "wherever darkness found me at the time." After a few years he decided to get a tent.
Not having anywhere to live has destroyed the family. The couple have five children. One has been adopted, one lives with Mr. Smith's mother, one with his father in New York, one is in foster care and one is staying with her Godmother.
Mr. Smith mainly works in security, his wife cleans houses. "Our combined salaries don't even come close to us being able to afford a place to live, he said.
It's been a rough ride. "I started to give up hope at one point. I was getting depressed. At one point I even contemplated suicide but I had to think of my wife and children," he said. "I got this place because of a little part time hustle with this guy. He used to keep dogs here and it was my job to clean the kennels, exercise and feed the dogs. When he left, he left me here."
Mr. Smith, a 38 year-old diabetic, takes his baths at the multi-purpose facility run by the Greater Smith Hill Church and pastor Lloyd Duncan, someone he considers a "real blessing."
In some ways though, he considers himself one of the lucky ones: "I see people living in the trees, sleeping on the beach or in boats and cars — wherever they can lay their heads. I'm lucky compared to them," he said. And he doesn't see any change on the horizon. "This is how it is. This is my life," he added.
Politically, he's disappointed with the Progressive Labour Party, traditionally the bastion of the black working class.
He said: "You see all these condos and townhouses going up. We helped put the PLP in power. What about us? Some people are working two or three jobs and they still can't make the rent."
Each day when he walks down Curving Avenue he passes a spacious derelecit house. Its windows are smashed and there's no glass in the front door. It's been like this for a couple of months now, he says. He walks on, shaking his head. "Something's got to give," he says.
Reader Comments
Posted: Sunday, October 08, 2006
Comment by:
Sandi Ruth
Bermuda is in the top five of the richest countries in the world. It hurts me so badly that Bermuda, my home, doesn't care more about is own people. It not island that makes the island, it is it's people. Bermuda needs to invest in the people it is going to sustain itself.
Posted: Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Comment by:
Pat Brown
There's something seriously wrong in a rich country like this when people can work 2 or 3 or more jobs and still not make enough to rent a lousy apartment. Like Mr. Smith, I too have seen abandoned homes sitting empty and usually in ruins. Why aren't they being fixed up for homeless families? Who owns them and who would let land that could be developed sit in ruins?
Perhaps it's time the government got off their well paid bottoms and did something about the whole mess.
Posted: Saturday, July 15, 2006
Comment by:
Selwyn Jones
With all that goes on in tourism in Bermuda it is depressing to read of the plight of Mr Smith and others. Can't those in authority do something to correct such imbalances?
