SVP sees upsurge of people seeking food, basic assistance

The Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP) is concerned that some of the measures announced in the 2025/2026 Budget will take a toll on the most vulnerable in society.

Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo in his Budget statement on Monday, October 13, announced the introduction of a Landlord Business Surcharge, in response to an “explosion of unregistered commercial and residential rental properties” and landlords not paying “their fair share of taxes”.

SVP President Nigel Phillip anticipates that the levy will lead to increased rental cost for tenants saying, “no landlord is going to absorb those expenses”. He also expects the Electricity Surcharge of $0.05 per kWh, to take effect from January 1, will also be passed on to consumers.

Phillip said the Budget has been described as “good”, but he wondered if consideration has been given to the effects of measures on the poor and vulnerable.  “I would like to see, which I have not seen exactly, what are the various structures to help the poor and vulnerable in the society. Is it that civil society groups, NGOs (non-governmental organisations), religious-based organisations, all these groups, is government going to provide support to these groups to provide support for the poor among us?”

The SVP was seeing an upsurge of people seeking food, help with rent and housing and assistance with accessing “basic” medical services. “We have seen so many aspects of the vulnerable and the vulnerable crying out to us because they see us as Church, they see us as someone who would help,” Phillip said.

He voiced alarm at the impact of the halting of programmes such as CEPEP (Community-based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme) and the Unemployment Relief Programmes (URP), as well as the suspension of MiLAT (Military-Led Academic Training Programme), MYPART (The Military Led Youth Programme of Apprenticeship and Reorientation Training) on those who came from “grassroot areas”.

Phillip stated: “It will definitely have an impact on society where you can see an eruption of crime, eruption of gangs, eruptions of where persons are unable to provide support for their children to attend school. You have issues of persons unable to pay their rent, you may have other social issues where people end up squatting. You might have persons ending up on the streets”. He said single-parent households are especially vulnerable.

Survival tactics

Increased vulnerability in the face of economic hardship is pushing women to “sexual servitude” to provide for their children and run households, Phillip said, as he shared his views on some of the “survival tactics” of the poor in society.

“You have cases, situations where young children, even males and even females are doing the same things to help in bringing money into the home. Some other things, children are engaging in gambling and selling drugs and doing this illicit set of trading for survival within the home,” he said.

Young people are more vulnerable to being initiated into gangs and getting involved in criminal activity. Phillip said: “The gangs are like family, and they accept persons so if you are family you are committed, you can’t really leave the gangs”.

He added that children selling drugs in schools was also about survival, getting money into the home and “to buy the expensive sneakers, to buy the iPhone and all the gadgets they have”.

Adult males are experiencing mental health challenges as they struggle to cope with certain life situations. Phillip said there is “conflict among themselves and conflict in how to provide for their families.”

He asserted the government “is not on the ground” in the way NGOs are, who hear the stories of people. He called on the State to engage in focus group discussions with civil society and religious non-profit organisations that serve the poor, in order bolster the work they do.

He said NGOs have been supporting the most vulnerable in society through progammes offering literacy and skills training and mentoring. “When people think of serving the poor and giving to the poor and vulnerable, they think just food but serving the poor and vulnerable in a society is more than food—it is empowerment. How do we empower this person to reach their highest potential to be self-sufficient? What programmes are there? I haven’t heard about it. What programmes are there for persons to learn a trade or business?”

While investment is being made into the agriculture sector, he questioned what else is being offered to those who “cannot speak for themselves, who cannot do things for themselves to help them from one position in their lives to another”. The SVP has 65 Conferences, but it is challenged with financial and human resource issues. Phillip said volunteerism is low and “money coming into the organisation has been slow or none at all”.

As a result, the SVP relies on corporate/private sector support. “We are never gonna stop asking organisations to continue to provide support for us through food items, monetary and all the different services,” he said.

Anyone wishing to support the SVP with cash or food can contact Phillip at 729-5818 or the Secretariat Office, Belmont at: 229-0502.