Nationalist MP Ivan Castillo said he took action after receiving a photo of a homeless person sleeping in a public lift in Blata l-Bajda.

“I called up 179 and an educated woman told me to call the police,” he said. “When I called the police, a very gentle officer informed me that they will verify the information and help him if he is still there.”

Castillo shared his experience to show how little effort it takes to help out and to encourage other people to do likewise.

“The phone calls only took four minutes out of my time,” he said. “I am not sharing what I did to seek praise because I didn’t do anything extraordinary.”

“However, if we don’t admit and show people that these realities exist, how are we going to address them? Not everyone is in this situation, thank God, but it is the reality of 300 people who don’t have a roof over their heads and 3,000 others who live in garages.”

“We have an obligation to help these people and address this reality. Sweeping the problems under the carpet won’t be helping anyone.”

“It’s a challenge and perhaps some of these people don’t want to be helped, but we must offer them help regardless. Some people are crying out for help and don’t know what to do, and we cannot ignore them.”