Homeless people are in hiding after 'shocking' arraignments, NGOs say

Attendance at the YMCA drop-in centre in Ħamrun halved just a day after 12 homeless people were arraigned in court, with the NGO's CEO warning that the authorities' approach has “put homelessness in Malta back 20 years”.

Anthony Camilleri, who leads YMCA Malta, told Times of Malta that the police action on Wednesday had an immediate effect.

“Our numbers are down. For example, our Ħamrun Drop-In Centre went from receiving an average of 60 people to only 30 people,” Camilleri said. “Now they are scared and scattered. There will be more problems now because they’re not getting help.”

He said his outreach team, which typically meets homeless individuals on the streets to inform them of services, has found it significantly harder to locate people.

“They’re not in their usual spots and have retreated further into the shadows,” he explained. “Before, at least we knew we might be able to find them behind a skip, for example, but now they are trying to be as out of sight as possible.”

The court hearings came after a police raid in Marsa targeting homeless individuals and those begging in public. Twelve people were brought before Magistrate Jean Paul Grech in three separate hearings on Wednesday. The first involved 10 men aged between 24 and 51 from Somalia, Sudan, Gambia, Italy, Nigeria, and Libya.

Camilleri described the arraignments as “a big shock”, saying that such an approach is “almost unprecedented” in his 20 years at YMCA.

He noted that while police do engage with homeless people by asking them to move or informing them of services, taking them to court is not the norm. “We found out about the raid from someone who was roofless, not from the authorities,” he said.

In court, Inspector Gabria Gatt said that if the individuals were detained, a care plan could be drawn up for them in collaboration with NGOs.

Camilleri said this remark frustrated him the most: “From the group, six out of twelve were already engaged in our drop-in centre. There was no communication from them [the authorities] saying this was going to happen. They never even asked if there was a care plan in place or if we engaged with any of them before.”

Due to this lack of communication, one of the detainees, a 26-year-old Maltese man in the group, now risks missing a crucial opportunity to begin rehabilitation. “He was set to start a rehab programme on the 12th of June,” Camilleri said. “We don’t know if he will even be able to go to the programme now because no one has communicated with us.”

The response from other NGOs has been equally critical.

Neil Falzon, director of the Aditus Foundation, said: “The state is unable to protect its weakest members of society. The same entity whose job it is to protect communities, to protect vulnerable people, has failed.”

He said the foundation had also followed the situation of two individuals who were arrested, describing them as “extremely vulnerable people”, unable to maintain stable jobs or accommodation.

“In a society that claims to promote the value of life, support of families, and support of the most vulnerable, dragging people to court and punishing them for being weak is simply unacceptable,” Falzon said.

They also questioned a justice system, “that failed to even check if these persons were followed by social workers, by other NGOs, or any entity that offered support” 

Rule of law NGO Repubblika also appealed for “humanity and decency”, urging the authorities to address the root causes of extreme poverty “rather than punishing its victims”.

While acknowledging that the police acted within the limits of the law, the NGO said, “We believe that a country without the basic compassion and generosity to care for its poorest is truly a country without a sense of community."

They concluded saying, “When people are forced to sleep on the street, it is the state that has failed in its duty of care. We all fail when we do not uphold the solidarity that binds us together.”

The police raid was reportedly prompted by public complaints about loitering and aggressive begging between Decathlon and Pavi Supermarket in Qormi.

All twelve individuals pleaded not guilty but were denied bail due to not having a permanent address. They remain in custody.