Government has promised to improve emergency care for homeless people following a report by the Compass about a family with two young children who ended up sleeping on the beach while suitable accommodation could be found for them.
Deputy Premier and Minister for Social Development and Innovation Kenneth Bryan told Parliament last week that he has issued three directives to the Department of Financial Assistance, with Cabinet approval, aimed at improving care of vulnerable people that come to the government seeking financial assistance.
“As policymakers and stewards of our social development framework, we have a moral obligation to ensure that our policies and programmes meet the real-world needs of our people,” he said.
The first directive instructs the Department of Financial Assistance, formerly known as the Needs Assessment Unit (NAU), to act “without delay” when families or single parents with children without a place to live ask for help, even if it means having to pay for a hotel for a short period of time until longer-term accommodation is found.
Bryan told the House, “I am sure every member of this Honourable House has seen the headline in the Cayman Compass on the 10th of October, telling the story about a mother of two, who was sleeping on the beach with her children because she had nowhere else to go. I am sad to report that although the Department of Financial Assistance was aware of the seriousness of the issue and had done all that they could within their remit, the policies of the department were inadequate to comprehensively assist this family. Until this directive was approved on Tuesday of last week, the practice and policy of the department was limited to approving financial assistance for accommodations and no more. Finding accommodation was the responsibility of the client.”
He added, “I want to thank Mr. James Whittaker of Cayman Compass for writing the story and shedding light on the realities of what some Caymanians are facing. More importantly, I want to congratulate the mother in the story for having the bravery to share her story, not being concerned about perceived shame by the public.”
Perfect storm
Bryan said that the combination of the limited housing available on island, the limited number of landlords willing to accept tenants who rely on government assistance, and the lack of transitional housing that is owned and controlled by government, created the “perfect storm for the nightmare that those children, I am sure, had to endure”.
Bryan said Cabinet had also approved a second directive ensuring that no parent applying for financial assistance will be required, or asked, to seek maintenance from the other parent as a condition for receiving support.
“Where maintenance has to be sought first, in order to qualify for financial assistance, the state can intervene to support the parent to seek maintenance, which helps to ensure their safety. Accordingly, the ministry is reviewing options for my consideration, which may include adding the Department of Children and Family Services and the Department of Financial Assistance as entities who can support parents applying for financial assistance to seek maintenance.”
The third directive extended services for those receiving financial assistance by a further six months in the run-up to the election, to avoid any suggestion of political bias at the department.
Lifeline of financial assistance
In summing up the measures, Bryan said, “The overarching goal of these three directives is to remove any unnecessary obstacles for those seeking assistance, especially in moments of immediate crisis or prolonged hardship. By doing so, we are reinforcing the principle that financial assistance is a lifeline and should be available quickly, especially in dire circumstances.”
In responding to the minister’s statement, Bryan’s predecessor, former deputy premier and former Minister for Social Development André Ebanks rose to say that the first directive “as far as I can see, isn’t new, this was already the practice of the department. The brick wall that would be run into every time you tried to extend financial assistance on an emergency basis for a homeless situation was to identify housing which the department has no remit over… so are there any hotels which might have changed their mind that would be available to provide housing?”
In response, Bryan said that recently there had been some problems with hotels offering this service but that “simply because there are hotels which for one reason or another are not prepared to help persons in dire circumstances such as children that are homeless is not an excuse for us not to solve the problem…we have been able to assist with a hotel as recently as I became minister, [so] there are some hotels who are willing to work in dire circumstances.”
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