A homeless man sitting outside the gates of Palace Amusement’s Carib 5 cinema in Cross Roads, St Andrew - Gleaner photo by Christopher Serju
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Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie and Kingston Mayor, Delroy Williams
The authorities are moving to create more locations for the homeless to seek shelter following attacks on six street people on Sunday.
Speaking with Earl Moxam, Host of Radio Jamaica's Beyond the Headlines on Monday, Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie says the arrangements will be temporary.
The minister confirmed some homeless shelters are packed while others have reduced the number of people they accommodate in keeping with COVID-19 prevention measures.
"What we are going to be looking at [is] there are open areas outside which are covered which I will speak with the mayor to see if we can put some temporary bedding around there. So that those who can't hold inside of the established area be placed in those areas. We do have a large constituent of homeless people...it is close to 700 people in the Corporate Area," Mr. McKenzie said.
Mayor of Kingston Delroy Williams says a transitional centre for homeless persons in the Corporate Area should be in place by the end of the year.
"We are also in the procurement stage of the construction of a transitional facility...on King Street. It would accommodate...we're looking at between 40 to 100 persons. Oratory facilities, doctors' care, nursing care and psychiatric."
Mr. Williams described significant resource challenges in monitoring the homeless in the municipality.
"Our municipal police numbers...Its quite a small number. Currently we are in negotiation with a central government programme to see if we can increase the number of municipal police in the first instance, to about 50. That would give us more leverage in how we allocate to protect the members of the homeless population," the mayor said.
Four of the homeless persons were killed and two injured in the southeastern parishes of Kingston and St. Andrew.
The police say patrols have increased in areas investigators believe homeless people might be targeted.
Investigators are appealing to anyone with information that can assist the probe, including CCTV camera footage, to contact the Major Investigations Division or the police 119 emergency number.
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