THE Government is ramping up efforts to continue supporting the country’s homeless with the near completion of the second phase of development for The Desmond McKenzie Transitional Centre.

Speaking during a tour of the King Street, downtown Kingston facility on Friday, Minister of Local Government and Community Development Desmond McKenzie said the new wing is 98 per cent complete.

“An additional 60 spaces will be provided for males and females to put a further dent in the problems we have as it relates to the homeless population. Once that phase has been completed, we will fully furnish the facility and then we will open the new wing of the facility,” McKenzie said.

He also disclosed that preliminary discussions have begun regarding the establishment of another transitional facility in the Corporate Area to provide further support for the homeless.

“I have been having discussions with…the mayor because there is need for an additional transitional facility in the Corporate Area and when I do speak in the sectoral presentation in May, I will make further announcements as to the next step that the Government will be making in this direction,” he said.

The minister also commended the staff at the facility for their dedication and hard work, noting that their efforts have helped the shelter meet the growing demand for homeless services in Kingston.

He also expressed satisfaction with the feedback from shelter staff, stating that most homeless individuals at the facility have been well-behaved.

Based on reports, the minister said only one resident has exhibited problematic behaviour so far, which he said will be addressed appropriately.

However, while noting the shelter’s success, McKenzie raised concerns about illegal dumping at a privately owned open space directly beside the facility.

He described the situation as the “uglification” of the area and called on the property owner to take responsibility. While noting that steps will be taken to address the issue, he called on people to avoid using the open space as a dumping ground.

“The uglification of the facility by the illicit dumping is of concern. We have cleanliness almost every day and you continue to find persons from outside the area driving up with their rubbish and disposing their rubbish here. We will be making some adjustments to the area to mitigate against the continuous dumping, but I also want to make an urgent and public appeal to the owner of the facility to come and take charge of his property and to do what is necessary,” McKenzie urged.

He also suggested that if the property was made available, it could be repurposed to provide additional shelter space for at least another 100 homeless individuals.

“So I want to make a public appeal to the owner, get in touch with me or the mayor and let us have a discussion as to how we can help to eliminate what is taking place over there, because I would love if the owner would say to me, ‘You can have a piece of it,’ so we can extend this to take at least another hundred persons who desperately need that bit of comfort in their lives,” he said.In the meantime, Mayor of Kingston Andrew Swaby, who was also on the tour, echoed the minister’s concerns and confirmed that efforts were made to contact the nearby property owner.“It is ugly… and we hope that the owner will come in. We have tried to reach out to the owner. I know the CEO has reached out to him to see how best we can deal with it. I think we have also given him time, and he has not made use of the time so I think further action has to be taken,” said Swaby.

Additionally, he pointed out that homelessness remains a daily challenge in Kingston and noted that recent policy changes have encouraged feeding programmes to move off the streets and into controlled spaces such as the Poor Relief office on Hanover Street. “The homeless population is a growing population. It’s something that we have to deal with every day. Just this month we have started to say that no feeding on the road and we’ve asked persons who come to feed and to offer their support to do it at 65 Hanover Street, and we want to see a dent, a greater dent into the homeless population and one way we can do it is to find facilities like these to see how best we can deal with them,” he added.

Mayor of Kingston Andrew Swaby (left) and Minister of Local Government and Community Development Desmond McKenzie check out an open Bible on one of the beds at The Desmond McKenzie Transitional Centre for the homeless during their tour of the facility (.Joseph Wellington)