Francisco Insfran testifies on staff hostility and lack of safety
Insfran, speaking in Spanish and English, says shelter staff are not trained to de-escalate, ignored his requests for a room key, and retaliated when he closed his door. He asks for basic respect and safety.
And now we'll hear from Francisco Insfrain.
Mi nombre es Francisco Insfran y soy miembro del colectivo de liderazgo comunitario de Coalición por Homeless.
Gracias por la oportunidad que nos dan en esta audiencia.
Esperaba encontrar estabilidad mientras trabajaba para conseguir una vivienda permanente.
Es difícil lograr esa estabilidad cuando no me siento seguro en el albergue.
Good afternoon.
My name is Francisco Insfran.
I'm a member of the Community Collective Coalition for Homeless.
Thanks to all of you here in the hearing.
I'm addressing to you because I don't feel safe in these homeless shelters.
I was hoping to find stability while I was working to find a permanent home for me.
But it's very difficult to find stability when I don't find myself safe in one of these homeless places.
Uno de los aspectos más difíciles de vivir en un albergue es la forma en que tratan a los empleados de dieches.
Se supone que ellos deben crear un entorno seguro para nosotros, sin embargo, cada vez que hay un conflicto entre ellos se crea un ambiente peligroso.
En uno de los albergues en los que estuve se produjo una pelea entre el personal, el staff y un residente, porque el residente había pedido como un jugo extra.
El personal sin capacidad respondió con hostilidad y desembocó en una gran pelea que hubo un gran destrozo en el shelter.
One of the most difficult things or living in one of the homeless shelters is the way that the employees are treating the people who are living there in the shelter.
We are supposed to have a very safe environment for all of us.
However, we have a big conflict, and this is creating a very dangerous environment in the places where we live.
In one of the homeless shelters I was living before, it was a very big fight.
And the only reason of this big fight was that one of the homeless residents that lived there only asked...
For an additional juice.
This was the only thing that he asked.
And only because asking for an additional juice, the person responded with hostility, right?
And the person refused to give him the extra juice.
And instead, to give him the juice was a very big fight between both of them.
Continúa.
Desde aquí ninguno hasta personal, ¿ok?
Ninguna de las otras personas hizo nada para ayudar en ese momento.
Solo miraban o hacían que no entendían absolutamente nada.
El destrozo fue grande.
La pelea terminó y parte del equipamiento de la cocina quedó absolutamente destrozada.
Any of the people who were working at the shelter did anything to try to help in the situation or to stack the fire, right?
The only thing they were doing, they were looking at them at the same time they were fighting without doing anything, right?
And the fire was so bad that it even destroyed some of the kitchen utensils and some of the kitchen equipment that was there.
And why we should have this cruel reaction from these people from the homeless shelters.
Vas a ir de las, la tercera página.
¿Lo pueden ver?
Las con el que.
¿Puedes, verdad?
Sí.
Ok, tranquilo.
Los personal no están entrenados.
O sea, el personal, disculpa, de staff, no está entrenada realmente para crear un ambiente tranquilo y que pueda ser seguro para los residentes.
Especialmente cuando vives en un albergue para personas solas con una alta población.
También me preocupa que sucede si sufro maltrato o soy testigo en la situación insegura.
Prefiero no decir nada para no empeorar mi situación.
I believe this homeless staff, right, is not well trained.
They are not trained enough to create, like I say, environment in these homeless shelters, especially when you live in a homeless shelter and you are there by yourself.
You are alone, right, with a very high population, right?
Something I'm very concerned that I should maybe suffer mistreatment from these people in the homeless shelter, or it could be also a weakness or a very insecure situation or unsafe situation that will happen there.
There are moments where I prefer not to say anything because I think if I say something, it will make my situation worse than before.
Okay, now we're going to go here.
Yo personalmente recibo.
En una unidad especializada para personas con discapacidad.
Sin embargo, el personal no me proporciona una llave para mi unidad.
Llave del apartamento.
Sí.
Y cuando sigo pidiendo uno, el personal, en vez de ayudarme, me ignora.
Ok.
Ok.
I'm living and I'm residing in a specialized unit for people who suffer from incapacities or discapacities, right?
However, the people who are there never provide me with a house key or a room key, right, in the place where I'm living.
And every time when I'm requesting a key from this homeless status, homeless employees, what they are doing to me, they're just ignoring me, you know?
Desde aquí ni siquiera hasta...
Ni siquiera puedo cerrar mi puerta cuando voy a ver a mis hijos.
El personal se enfada conmigo cuando cierro la puerta porque entonces tienen que buscar a un guardia especial para que me abra la puerta.
Ok.
You know, the situation is so bad that I cannot even close my door, you know, the room door, because sometimes I go outside to see my children.
My children don't live in the homeless shelter.
They live outside.
The personal staff becomes very angry with me because I'm closing the door, and what they are doing to me, they are sending a security guard to open the door, right?
Instead, you know, to keep the door closed, okay?
Okay.
En este caso yo no estoy pidiendo un trato especial.
Pido el respeto básico y la seguridad que toda persona merece.
Entiendo que vivir en un albergue puede ser difícil, pero eso no significa que debamos aceptar condiciones que hacen nuestras vidas mucho más estresantes y nos hacen sentir inseguros.
I'm not asking for a special treatment from the homeless shelter.
No, that's not my intention.
I'm only asking for a basic respect, and also I'm asking to have safety in that place.
I believe every person that lives in a homeless shelter deserves any type of safety, right?
I completely understand that living in a homeless shelter could be very difficult for everyone, but this doesn't mean that we should accept these conditions of those people
that are going to make our life more stressful and are going to make our life more insecure while we're living in those homeless shelters.
Un refugio debería ser un lugar donde pueda encontrar estabilidad, no otro sitio donde deba preocuparme por mi seguridad.
Todos merecemos un lugar seguro donde alojarnos y una oportunidad real para salir adelante.
I believe a homeless shelter should be a place where we could find stability.
It should not be a place where I have to be worried about my safety myself.
All of us, even we're poor, we're homeless, we deserve a safe place to live, right?
Like a secure place and also a safe place where we can stay without worrying about anything and we should have a real opportunity to move forward in the future.
Okay, that's everything.