There was a lukewarm response from homeless Jamaicans in downtown Kingston on Wednesday to indications that they would not be allowed to continue to line the streets of Justice Square on King Street.

In fact, of the dozens of individuals gathered at Marie Atkins Night Shelter on Hanover Street in the capital for the meeting with Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie and Kingston Mayor Andrew Swaby, only two hands were raised to indicate a willingness to be permanently assigned to that facility, while their counterparts maintained a stony silence.

One by one individuals justified their reluctance, sharing a litany of complaints about the staff at the night shelter.

“The way this place did a run before COVID, if it could go back to that — where it was simply the fact that we simply come eat and rest off the road until food come — we would be here. Until that we would have to be on the road,” one man complained.

“When yuh get di food dem tell wi seh wi haffi leave out,” another individual alleged.

“Yeh, dem lock wi out,” one woman shared, adding that shelter staff are known for turning them away during downpours.

“All when dem in here and rain a fall dem nuh put wi in here so, Sar,” she claimed.

“Well is truth… more time the rain fall and they don’t want us inside to shelter,” one man said and alleged verbal abuse from staff.

“More time, di people dem come inside, like elderly, him say move and go weh from yah so,” he said in reference to a particular staff member.

McKenzie, in acknowledging the complaint, said, “I have spoken to the mayor and we are going to withdraw that individual, but mek a tell you something, if unuh don’t behave unuh self, the poor relief officer them sometimes have challenge dealing with some of you. So hear mi, let us give and take, let us work together to correct the problem.”

He, in the meantime, assured individuals that the effort to shelter them was also out of concern for their own safety.

“I want to remind you that over two years ago, one of you was set on fire by five young boys. Dem deh a prison now a do long prison term, some a yuh used to sleep at Ward Theatre, them used to use stone and bash unuh head in. Ah don’t want that to happen to any more of yuh, so I am going to ask you to work with us to correct the problems,” the local government minister said.

“A caan manage da one deh, mi wi work wid yuh,” one woman uttered dramatically.

Another woman, indicating her willingness, complained about the meals at times given to the homeless by other citizens.

“I’ve been on the street for years, some of them literally don’t want to go in the system. Yuh tek them and yuh carry dem come today, dem might disappear. And pertaining to the food, there are times I don’t have food and I go down there and some a di food caan even eat… overnight food, sometimes [when] yuh get the rice, it just ready to go on the fire,” she said.

Individuals, however, who currently reside at the shelter, made it clear that those joining them would have to play by the rules.

“About the place should open up and let people come in and sleep and stuff like that, I do understand, but also we here that live here have this problem where when you guys come off the street, you guys nasty up the bathroom, all sort of things, and we that live here have to clean it and it is not fair to us,” one female resident said.

“Dem rape di woman dem,” one man interjected.

McKenzie appealed to the individuals to meet the authorities “halfway” to addressing their issues, while at the same time intimating that they were not entirely innocent.

“I know how some of you can behave because is more than 30 years I have been dealing with some of you, but… we can’t continue to turn our backs on the high level of indiscipline that unuh almost catch the courthouse a fire. I am not going to allow it, it not going to happen anymore, and in the next couple of weeks you will see and you will hear the steps that we are going to be putting in place to correct what is happening in downtown Kingston around Justice Square,” the local government minister declared.

When told by a resident, “Is a mad man light the court, enuh, is a mad man,” McKenzie retorted, “It doesn’t matter, but unuh shouldn’t allow him to do it.”

One individual, who gave his name as Noel, shared with the Jamaica Observer that his hope was for a roof over his head, while claiming that the shelter was less than above board in its dealings with those needing help.

“Miss, mi live on the streets seven years now, mi can’t get no help. Poor Relief nah help nobody… nah tek care a di people dem pon di street, wi need help,” he said.

The 27-year-old, who claimed to be originally from East Kingston, claimed he had been abandoned by relatives.

“Mi bredda dem a bad man, dem nuh care fi mi. Mi madda still alive, mi don’t know mi father from mi a youth, mi mother wash clothes, she do day’s work. Mi can’t get no help from Poor Relief, mi want betta, mi need fi come offa di street, mi want a roof ova mi head, mi look like a mad man, look how mi boot dutty, mi nuh have nobody fi guide an protect mi,” he said.

The primary school drop-out, in claiming that he has been forced to “live like a mad man”, said, “Mi waan build a stall, buy some things and sell, anything at all weh mi can mek money. Mi nah get no help from Poor Relief, not even clothes mi can get from Poor Relief, Miss, a old bruk dem yah.”

The decision to relocate the homeless from Justice Square comes after repeated calls from citizens and the judiciary, the latest during the official opening ceremony for the Michaelmas Term for the Appeal Court at the end of September.

Senior Appeal Court judge, Justice Paulette Williams, presiding over the official opening ceremony in the absence of President Justice Marva McDonald-Bishop, said the recent fire at the rear of the court building — allegedly caused by the action of a homeless individual — was sufficient notice before other more sinister events take place.

“We have done our best; we cannot stress our efforts to try and get the powers that be, the authorities, to address this nuisance. We have earned a reputation as a people of being reactive more than proactive, but we hope that this situation will not lead to something that we will end up saying, ‘If only’, and, ‘If wi did’. So, we continue to ask you to be cautious in your dealings with these people as they gather around us and to be aware of them,” she said.

For years, Justice Square — which houses the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions — has been a refuge for dozens of homeless people, some of whom are mentally challenged and roam at will in different stages of undress.

Local Government and Rural Development Minister Desmond McKenzie (right) listens to a homeless woman while Kingston Mayor Andrew Swaby looks on ahead of Wednesday’s breakfast meeting at Marie Atkins Night Shelter on Hanover Street in downtown Kingston at which both men announced plans to remove the homeless population from Justice Square on King Street into shelters.