Project helps students learn about homelessness issues

Interior design: students at Somersfield Academy put together their designs for shelters (Photograph supplied)

Students learnt about issues surrounding homelessness while they worked on a project to design shelters for people without permanent housing.

M4 students of Somersfield Academy took on the assignment, when they were also taught about some of the systemic issues that cause homelessness.

They were joined this year by Denise Carey, the executive director of Home, Devray Denwiddie, a case manager at the charity, and Oral Barnett, Home’s Renting Ready co-ordinator.

Kimberly Hogg, a teacher at the school, said: “This helped our students develop more realistic personas they would design for as their clients, to empathise with them, and adjust their design ideas to meet the real needs of unhoused people rather than base their approaches in stereotypes, prejudices and assumptions.”

She added that typically there were more people who were “only a couple of pay cheques from becoming unhoused” than those who were expected to be financially secure for the rest of their lives.

Ms Hogg said: “The reality is that any of us could find ourselves in need of support and shelter, whether that’s for financial reasons, environmental and climate reasons, political reasons or something else that disrupts our current situation.

"Many unhoused people are invisible — living in temporary accommodations, squatting or simply trying to stay under the radar.

“That makes it difficult at times to understand their realities even though the need is great and growing as wealth disparity continues to increase.”

Help a blanket drive

Somersfield is appealing to people to support Home’s blanket drive to help ensure that “rough sleepers and those in need of a little extra warmth are better able to survive the cold, damp Bermuda winter”.

The school is collecting comforters and blankets until today.

Anyone outside the school can e-mail Home at info@home.bm if they are able to help.

As well as inviting Home to give its perspective, the school also involved architect firm Mollie Bigley and its architectural assistant, Sophie Stubbs.

Home executive director Denise Carey talks to one of the Somersfield Academy students who designed a shelter for the homeless (Photograph supplied)

Ms Hogg said: “Our mission at Somersfield Academy is to inspire socially conscious, independent thinkers.

“With that in mind, a major goal of this project is for our students to have increased awareness of both the causes of social issues such as homelessness and to identify the opportunities we have to make an impact on the lives of people affected.

“Finding common ground in our shared humanity is an essential starting point.”

Ms Carey said the Plan to End Homelessness introduced five housing typologies: universal, targeted, emergency, crisis and recovery.

She added: “Our young people understand that sustainably ending homelessness requires unique housing solutions and long-term coordination.

“It is heart-warming to witness Somersfield Academy's M4 students present practical solutions to increasing Bermuda's housing inventory.

“Home is grateful to them for raising awareness about homelessness in Bermuda.

“With emphasis on affordability, recycled materials and short construction times, these young advocates for change are challenging our community to work together, as they have, to create affordable housing.

“Our young people deserve a Bermuda where they can afford to live and thrive.”

Ending Homelessness

The Royal Gazette, in conjunction with stakeholders including Home, has launched its Ending Homelessness campaign to remind the community that people affected by homelessness matter.

Home, and others, want to end homelessness. So do we. We want your support. We want you to change your perception of members of the unsheltered population. We want you to help lobby for simple changes. We want you to show compassion.

Homeless people want to work so that they can be self-sufficient. They did not choose to be homeless, and in many cases their plight was brought about by systemic failings in this country.

In 2010, the Bermuda Census identified 82 people experiencing homelessness. By 2016, that number had risen to 138.

According to Home, the Department of Statistics developed those estimates based on counting rough sleepers and the population housed in the Salvation Army emergency shelter.

As of December 31, 2023, Home recorded Bermuda’s homeless population as 811.

Originally published in The Royal Gazette.