The Urban Inn: Accommodating the Unemployed Near You!

Figure 1: Showing homeless person situated on the Brian Lara Promenade (Photo taken by Sybastian Manners, April 9, 2015)

 The urban center is a sphere in which we see the effects of unemployment unfold. When persons are not able to earn an income, over time, unemployed individuals are deprived of some of the basic necessities of living such as food, clothing, medical care and shelter, all of which ensure a standard quality of life. Unemployment in an economy is reflective of failure in the labour market in providing jobs for citizens and while it is highly prioritized by governments to alleviate this problem, high rates of unemployment still exist in the Caribbean region(World Bank 2014). In addition to the lack of income, the escalation in housing prices and the shrinking supply has reduced the accessibility to housing in most places. Takahashi describes this as a game of musical chairs where the person left standing when the music stops is at times relegated to expand the homeless ranks (Takahashi 1996). In this post we will examine the harsh reality of unemployment in the process of homelessness and how this phenomenon manifests in urban space.

    

 An individual may be described as homeless when they are absolutely, periodically, or temporarily without shelter, as well as those who are at substantial risk of being in the street in the immediate future(Kissoon 2015). Such a state reduces their opportunities on the job market initially since they have no fixed address to facilitate mailing correspondences. Secondly, homelessness is associated with increased levels of stress, lack of sleep and negative changes in diet, all of which may reduce an individual’s productivity in the workplace(Kissoon 2015). As such, whether the cause of homelessness be of agency or structure, homeless individuals find themselves in a cycle of counter-productivity that proves cancerous to their overall well-being.

Figure 1: Showing vagrant nicely accommodated on the sidewalk opposite Independence Square. ( Photo taken by Sybastian Manners , March 20, 2105) 

 Situating in the urban areas increases their chances of citizens of good standing acknowledging their state of need and proposing a helpful gesture, as opposed to the less dense periphery where the transient population is not as frequent and present. Here we see the homeless locating them selves strategically to “play the urban pitch” in their best interest. Some homeless persons have housing careers which originate in the extreme periphery or even the suburbs of the country and have migrated to the city for reasons such as the increased possibility of securing employment, security and shelter in an effort to better their situation. 

Figure 2: Showing potentially homeless man washing taxis on the Brian Lara Promenade. 
( Photo Taken by Sybastian Manners ,March 20, 2105)

Individuals, despite of their lack of formal income still have to consume in order to survive. As a result, some homeless persons seek to strive off begging passersby or staking out near eating establishments for the kind acts of employees and employers to acquire meals daily. They assess the urban spaces to determine where their greatest chances for opportunity are located in relation to particular periods throughout the day. The knowledge acquired over time on the transient population allows the vagrants to make more informed decision in using the attributes of the urban space to their advantage. 

Figure 3: Showing unemployed man strategically located by the Royal Bank of Canada
automated teller machine. (Photo taken by Sybastian Manners, April 9, 2015)

While traversing Port of Spain we noticed a concentration of potentially homeless persons in close proximity to automated teller machines and banks. This would seem very strategic to vagrants as chances of persons utilizing these services having cash on their person is high. Others resort to informal forms of trade and employment such as washing cars, cleaning windows, clearing drains and walk ways of debris and even prostitution. Here, we see another intermingling of the formal and informal sectors since the homeless seek to target persons formally employed on the premise that they are in a better position to give and help their situation.

 Their mere existence within the urban space is a cause for concern to some stakeholders. Apart from the infringement on aesthetics that they permeate, which we discussed in an earlier post, some vagrants out of desperation or mental state resort to crime and violence as a means of getting by, thus attract stigma within the society. Criminals often captilise on this factor and disguise themselves as vagrants when committing crimes. (See link below: Vagrant admits to killing man)(Trinidad Express 2015) This stigma is attached to even the most honest of the homeless and as a result compounds the stress they are already experiencing in acquiring their daily nutritional and physical requirements(Dear and Gleeson, 1991). As such, it is not unusual for the homeless to seek that temporary release which drugs and alcohol abuse provides. This further deteriorated their condition and validates the intervention of the Health and Welfare sector of the economy that seek to get these persons off the streets, off the substances and reintegrated into society.

Video: Teaser to interview with homeless man on the Brian Lara Promenade. (Interview Conducted by Christal Benjamin)

SEE FULL 7 MINUTE INTERVIEW @: https://youtu.be/1z_8Hsz5DoM

Reference:

·         Trinidad Express. 2015. “Vagrant admits to killing man.” Accessed April 6, 2015. http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Vagrant-admits-to-killing-man-173219781.html

·         Takahshi. L. M. 1996. “A decade of understanding homelessness in the USA: from characterization to representation” Progress in Human Geography 20 (3): 291 – 310.

·         Kissoon. 2015. “Housing Career, Housing Ladder, Housing Career, Housing Ladder,  and Residential Mobility and Residential Mobility” Lecture presented at The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago, March 21-28, 2015.

·         World Bank. 2014. “Youth unemployment in the Caribbean.” Accessed March 25, 2015.
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/04/19586512/youth-unemployment-caribbean

Dear, M. and Wolch, J. 1987. Landscapes of despair: from deinstitutionalization to homelessness. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.