Addressing the complex, lingering problem of street dwellers

It is an early mid-morning and 50-year-old Andrew Allen is calmly removing the copper from small pieces of electrical wire, which he plans to sell. It is a painstaking task and it is obvious that it will take a while, but he continues anyway.

“I usually sell it for $200 a pound and sometimes I just get half a pound so is $100 I would get,” he told the Sunday Stabroek when approached as he sat on the pavement at the corner of Camp Street and North Road.

He does not look up from his task as he speaks freely to this newspaper.