By JADE RUSSELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

GREAT Commission Ministries President Bishop Walter Hanchell said his organisation has spent 35 years trying unsuccessfully to secure land for housing for homeless and vulnerable families, as the new social services minister warns that rising homelessness has become one of the most urgent issues facing her ministry.

Bishop Hanchell said successive governments have failed to work with Great Commission Ministries despite the organisation’s decades of work assisting homeless people, including mothers evicted from apartments who are living in cars or abandoned vehicles with their children.

His comments came after newly appointed Social Services Minister Barbara Cartwright identified rising homelessness as one of the most pressing issues facing her ministry. She said demand for shelter is increasing and that access to affordable, safe and secure shelter is one way to lift people out of poverty.

Bishop Hanchell commended the minister for highlighting the issue, but said homelessness has been rising for years and has become a plague affecting ordinary Bahamians who have fallen on hard times.

“We made recommendations to successive administrations to purchase a few large vacant buildings that are suitable for caring for our growing homeless population, but they seem to have fallen on deaf ears,” Bishop Hanchell told The Tribune.

He said the high cost of living has driven homelessness, while job losses, health challenges and financial hardship have pushed many people into desperate circumstances.

He said homeless people struggle to find safe places to sleep and somewhere to store their belongings, adding that homelessness takes a mental, physical and emotional toll on those affected.

“There was a time when there were no homeless persons in The Bahamas. We appear to be moving backwards in this regard. The high cost of living and other factors have placed a strain on average workers,” he said.

“A new trend we have observed in homelesness is the high number of Bahamians that actually live on the streets roaming like animals. They are disheveled and in need of somewhere to lay their heads and a place to bathe, rest and eat,” he said, adding these people have been neglected by the government and church.

Bishop Hanchell announced plans in 2023 to build Hope City, a $3.5m homeless shelter. The project was intended to be a two-storey, 100-bed complex with dormitories and an empowerment centre for skills training, job-readiness initiatives and broader life-skills development.

However, the project has stalled.

Plans for Hope City on Carmichael Road were derailed by a dispute over a half-acre parcel of Crown land granted to Great Commission Ministries. The Tribune Business previously reported that, according to Bishop Hanchell, another party later claimed ownership of the same property, triggering a legal dispute that forced Great Commission Ministries off the site. Despite discussions with the Office of the Prime Minister and assurances that the issue would be addressed, the matter remains unresolved.

Earlier this month, Bishop Hanchell said the organisation had lost confidence in successive administrations’ willingness to provide land for the initiative. Great Commission Ministries is now seeking to buy land or secure a private donor to move the project forward.

On Friday, Bishop Hanchell said the organisation has put construction of Hope City on hold because it never received the ten acres it applied for 35 years ago to provide housing for families.

Great Commission Ministries first applied for ten acres of Crown land in 1990 during the administration of former Prime Minister Sir Lynden Pindling and has continued pursuing similar requests under successive administrations.

“We have assisted thousands of homeless persons for almost forty years and have been unsuccessful in obtaining a crown grant from any government after requesting land thirty-five years ago to care for the needy,” he said.

He said Great Commission Ministries has received no financial aid for its homeless shelters, though it remains grateful for the small annual government grant that assists its feeding programmes.

"We have been requesting an increase in aid for sometime now," he added.

Bishop Hanchell urged the government to help fund the operation of its shelters.

“We serve the general public and clients are regularly referred to Great Commission Ministries for housing and food assistance. We also urge churches, businesses, foundations and different organizations and individuals to help us in caring for the poor, homeless and hurting in The Bahamas.”