139 people seek shelter and food at Caritas drop-in centre in October

With Christmas only a few days away, many of us are scurrying about to do our last minute shopping and worrying about what to serve our family and close friends for Christmas day lunch.

Christmas is a time characterised by family get togethers, social meetings, festivities, food, toys and joy, all bundled up in the warm confines of a rowdy family home. Yet this not the reality for everyone in Malta.

Statistics covering a four-month period, from 18 July until 18 October, show that an average of 66 people sought shelter and free food from just one drop-in centre, with 139 seeking help in October.

The data was collected by Caritas Malta, on a request by MaltaToday, regarding the demographics of the people who come to use the services at Dar Papa Frangisku. The drop-in centre offers 20 beds on a first-come-first-served basis for temporary shelter, free lunches between 12pm and 2:30pm, and hygiene facilities. It is joint venture between the government, Caritas Malta and the Alf Mizzi Foundation.

Social Solidarity Minister Michael Farrugia inaugurated the 24/7 shelter Dar Papa Frangisku in July

The figures showed that while the number of people seeking these services fluctuated greatly during this time span, one demographic group stood out in particular: middle aged Maltese men.

Local men between the ages of 36 and 47 were the most prominent group of people to seek shelter and lunches offered at Dar Papa Frangisku.

According to Caritas Malta director Leonid McKay, the most common reason that led these individuals to seek over-night shelter at the drop-in centre were mental health problems and addictions, and, in the case of EU nationals looking for jobs in Malta, relocation.

Individuals who turned up at the centre for the free lunches, who could be the same individuals seeking shelter at night or different individuals altogether, did so mostly because they were pensioners whose income was not enough to meet their needs, people who convened there for companionship, individuals with low income or those battling addiction, McKay said.

“Since opening our doors, we’ve realised that there is a big need for our services. Different people come for different services, but our shelter is the most sought out for,” he added.

In 2000, then social policy minister Lawrence Gonzi had said that there were 25 cases of applicants who claimed to be homeless at the department of social housing.

Fast-forward to 2013 and the number of individuals who attended the Appogg unit in the first six months of the year indicating homelessness was registered to be 150.

However, homelessness is difficult to calculate and the figures of people seeking assistance from government and NGOs fail to paint a complete picture of the social situation in Malta.

Speaking to MaltaToday, Fondazzjoni Suret il-Bniedem manager Anthony Debattista explained that homelessness does not necessarily refer to rooflessness, and that it is a very broad spectrum.

The European Federation of National Organisations working with the Homeless (FEANTSA) launched in 2005 the European Typology of Homelessness and Housing Exclusion (ETHOS), which outlines four different situations that fall under ‘homelessness’. They explained that there is rooflessness, where people find themselves without a shelter of any kind; houselessness where they temporarily have a place to sleep in institutions or shelter; living in insecure housing, where the individuals are threatened with severe exclusion due to insecure tenancies, eviction, domestic violence; and living in inadequate housing as a result of unfit housing or extreme overcrowding.

Fondazzjoni Suriet il-Bniedem houses ex-inmates, women and their children, and people with mental health issue, as well as works to rehabilitate its residents and improve their conditions. It operates through contractual agreements with other organisations, such as Mount Carmel and the Foundation for Social Welfare Solidarity.

Debattista explained that homelessness is not necessarily related to poverty. This means that, despite the fact that Eurostat figures show that severe material deprivation in Malta dropped to 8.1% in 2015, after peaking at 10.2% the previous year, the rate of homelessness in Malta could actually be much higher than just the number of people in homeless shelters.

“The people we see are from different walks of life. Lately we’re seeing a number of our mental issues cases who are ‘working homeless’, who are able to hold down a job due to the increased availability of medications. Freedom of movement has also resulted in a rise in foreign homeless people,” Debattista said. “Homeless women are on the rise, most probably due to weaker social cohesion. Women just don’t find as much support as they used to when their marriage hits the rocks,” he added, referring to an example of women who is forced to leave the matrimonial home due to an abusive relationship. 

According the social solidarity minister Michael Farrugia, Foundation for Social Welfare Services assists people facing homelessness due to poverty by allocating them in homeless shelters run by NGOs, despite housing not falling within its remit.

“By the end of May 2016, the number of homeless people living in homeless shelters due to the Private Social Partnerships between the foundation and NGOs, stood at 40 in total,” Farrugia said.

Until June of this year the housing authority had 2,835 applicants for alternative accommodation spread on several categories, the minister added.