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[
Report from
Field ]
Hong
Kong
Street-sleepers
For more
contact SoCO of Hong Kong
soco@super.hk
(A) Introduction
In an affluent city like Hong Kong, there
are people who have no place to live, not even temporary accommodations. The phenomenon of street-sleeping has been
existing for a long time in Hong Kong. The
first local study of street-sleepers was conducted in 1977. At that time, the estimated population of
street-sleepers was around a thousand and this figure was reported in
subsequent surveys of street-sleeper by the Hong Kong Government up to
1996. However, after the economic
turmoil in 1997, it was perceived that the number of street-sleepers had
increased.
In addition,
the nature of the street-sleeper community may have changed in these
years. It is reported in the Government
surveys
that street-sleepers are largely unhealthy¡± such as being mentally ill,
substance abusing, and/or disable. The
commonest reason given for street-sleeping in the surveys is unable to afford
high rent in previous accommodation.
It should be noted that "preferred street-sleeping is the second
commonest reason given by the respondents.
However, the Government surveys failed to tell the details of the
situation of and difficulties faced by street-sleepers. An in-depth understanding of the factors
leading to street-sleeping was also neglected.
Therefore, in 1999, Society for Community Organization (SoCO) conducted
a study to home a better understanding to this issue. The study aimed at understanding the following topics:
1.
Background information of street-sleepers
2.
Reasons for street-sleeping
3.
Problems faced by street-sleepers
4.
Street-sleeper's opinion on existing
services
5.
Problems of existing services
(B) Methodology
A qualitative approach was adopted in this study. A structured interview guideline was
designed to collect the information. Non-probability sampling was used to identify respondents.
According to the population survey of
street-sleepers conducted by the Social Welfare Department (SWD) of Hong Kong
Government in 1996, 54.4 per cent of street-sleepers lived in two districts,
Yau Tsim Mong (this district can be further subdivided into three areas, namely
Yau Ma Tei, Tsim Sha Tsui and Mong Kok) and Sham Shui Po. These two districts covered the majority of
the street-sleeper's population among a total of eighteen districts in Hong
Kong. Therefore, the information collected
from these two districts represented a certain level of significance. From 18th June to 9th July 1999, we
identified 44 sites where more street-sleepers were present in the above-mentioned
two districts after our thirteen times of preliminary visit. Owing to the limitation of manpower, we had
finally chosen to interview street-sleepers in 7 out of these 44 sites to
conduct our study. From June to August,
we were familiarized with over 200 street-sleepers and 94 of them were
successfully interviewed. Data was
subsequently analyzed and the report was finished in September.
(C) Findings
1. Background information of street-sleepers
Male was the dominant sex in our study. 96.8 per cent of the 94 respondents were male and 12 per cent were
female. Young adult aged between 20 to
39 constituted a substantial proportion (20.2%) in the sample. The majority (74.2%) of them was either
unmarried, divorced or widowed, i.e. being singleton. 61.7 per cent of respondents received no support from their
families. Respondents¡¯ education level
was generally low. 64.8 per cent of
them had primary or lower level of education.
31.9 per cent of respondents were suffering from different kind of
unhealthy status e.g. impaired physical ability, drug abuse, gambling and mental
illness.
2. Reasons for street-sleeping
Unemployment was the main reason for street-sleeping. About one third (29.3%) of the respondents
were unemployed and not willing to apply for Comprehensive Social Security
Assistance (CSSA). They did not have the money to pay for the
rent and hence, started street-sleeping.
About one fifth (19.6%) of them receive CSSA after street-sleeping. Under the new policy of CSSA, there was no
deposit lent to recipients.
Respondents, since unemployed, did not have enough money to give the
deposit and rent for a place to live in although they had rent subsidy from the
CSSA scheme. About one tenth (10.9%) of
respondents lost their living place after unemployed since they used to live in
staff hostels.
There were some
factors lied behind these given reasons of street-sleeping and should not be
overlooked. A large majority (61.7%) of
the respondents could not get any support from the family because of either
being single or having poor family relationship. It is perceived that the lack of family support acts as the
"predisposing factor' of street-sleeping.
In addition, respondents had generally low education level. Therefore, they could only get unstable and
low-income jobs such as catering workers and construction workers. It is suspected that low job-security and
low-income jobs make respondents hard to save enough money to sustain their
housing expenditure once unemployed.
3. Needs and problems faced by street sleepers
70.2 per cent of respondents regarded housing as their need, 48.9
per cent for employment need and 36.2 per cent for financial need. It should be noted that a substantial
percentage of respondents were unsatisfied with basic material needs, such as
food (21.3%) and clothes (5.3%).
4. Means of living (can be omitted)
Respondents usually supported their living on their own by unstable
income. 28.7 per cent of respondents
was working, earning from ragpicking and food picking constituted 24.5 per cent
of the means of living. 8.5 per cent of
respondents supported their living by their savings. There were 38.3 per cent of respondents receiving CSSA to support
their living.
5. Housing need
Around 75 per cent of respondents wanted to either rent private
accommodations or public housing.
However, 48.5 per cent of respondents worried about the affordability of
private accommodations. In addition,
40.1 per cent of respondents reflected that the living environment of private
housing was unsatisfactory and unacceptable, such as insufficient space, poor
and living environment insecurity, and having drug addicts around.
For public
housing, the major hindrance was troublesome administrative procedure, which
constituted 32.8 per cent of the opinion, including "long waiting
time", and "troublesome application procedure". 18.1 per cent of respondents reported that
they did not know how to apply for the public housing, and many of them
misunderstood that they were ineligible for application due to singleton.
6. Employment
76.6 per cent of respondents did not have a job. However, only 38.3 per cent of them were
receiving CSSA. About one third (31.9%)
of the respondents wanted to rely on their own and find a job.
When asked about
the difficulties in finding jobs, 26.8 per cent of respondents reported that
they were too old. 22.6 per cent said
they had no contact phone number and address.
14.6 per cent said their previous criminal record made them hard to find
job.
Some (7.6%)
respondents¡¯ remark that even if they could find jobs they were unable to pay
for the first month expenses such as transportation and meal.
7. Opinions on services
About half of the respondents knew about the shelter and free meal
service provided by non-governmental organizations. Fewer respondents (about one fifth) knew about other
street-sleepers services, such as emergency relief, street-sleepers outreaching
teams and day relief centers. Nearly
half of the respondents (48.9%) had not been visited by any outreaching
team.
The utilization
rate of shelter service was low. Only
16 per cent of respondents had lived in shelters/hostels. In fact, 73.4 per cent of the respondents
did not want to live in these shelters/hostels. 46.8 per cent of the respondents said that having drug addicts in
these shelters/hostels discouraged them to live in, while 23.4 per cent of them
was discouraged because of the undesirable environment such as stuffy, having
no facilities. 18.3 per cent said that
rules like closing time in these shelters/hostels caused inconvenience.
(D) Analysis on policy and service
1. Policy
The street-sleepers policy in Hong Kong has not been comprehensively
reviewed since 1993. In the report
issued by Hong Kong Government in 1993, it stated that:
The policy of Social Welfare Department
(SWD) is to render appropriate help to street-sleepers who are regarded as
disadvantaged and vulnerable group.
Special attention is given to those who are elderly, disabled, sick, the
mentally ill, or are suspected to be drug addicts or alcoholics.
However, as
reflected in our findings, there may be more young, educated and healthy
street-sleepers. This phenomenon is
thought to be resulted from the economic downturn in 1997. The proportion of street-sleepers in the age
range of 20-39 in the Government survey
1996 was 12.2 per cent. However, in our
findings, the proportion is more substantial, as 20.3 per cent. According to a survey conducted by a
non-governmental organization in 1991, respondents with secondary or above education level constituted 15 per
cent of the sample. In our findings,
respondents with the same education level were 35.2 per cent of the
sample. In addition, personal financial
factor was the major reason leading to street-sleeping as reported by 59.8 per
cent of the respondents. Public
awareness should be aroused, as reflected from this study, to the substantial
proportion of young and productive street-sleepers facing financial problems
and hence sleeping in the street.
It can be said
that the Hong Kong Government fails to provide appropriate services due to its
wrong policy assumptions. It is thought
that Government expects street-sleepers, who are young and healthy, can meet
their needs through the market system, family system. Thus, the focus of existing services is narrowed to
street-sleepers that are old, sick, and so on.
However, in the present economic situation of Hong Kong, ordinary people
are hard to find jobs and improve, let alone street-sleepers who have many
difficulties in seeking jobs as mentioned before. During the economic re-structuring period and after the economic
downturn, it is more difficult to expect street-sleepers who are in general of
low education and working skills to find jobs.
Thus, Government should take of street-sleepers at time when the market
fails to do so.
Also, from the
family relationship revealed in this study, it can be seen that usually
street-sleepers cannot find family support.
Therefore, Government should not expect that the family system is still
working to prevent people from street-sleeping. Government should take up the responsibility to help these
people.
All in all,
Government does not emphasize the work of dealing with street-sleepers. It lacks deep understanding of
street-sleeper's characteristics and needs at present time. A comprehensive policy in tackling the issue
of street-sleeping should be formulated.
2. On street-sleepers outreaching team
Since nearly half of the respondents had not been visited by any
street-sleepers outreaching team, they could hardly get access to existing
services provided to them as introduced by these outreaching teams.
Outreaching
teams play a very important role in reaching street-sleepers and building
relationship with them for further helping process. The two NGOs outreaching teams do not have any problems in
performing their jobs. But limited
resource put an end in the only one non-subvented pilot outreaching team from Salvation
Army. This team has a registered nurse
to assess those suspected to be mentally ill and aged over 60. This pilot team with medical professional
has been suggested 10 years before. In
view of the mentally ill patients in the street-sleepers community, the
existence of this team is necessary.
However, Government has never emphasized this service.
Government should input more resources
into outreaching teams such as recruiting more social workers to serve in these
teams. It is very hard to imagine how
seven social workers can serve one thousand street-sleepers who are all desperately
in need of help all over Hong Kong.
3. On accommodations service
There is a serious shortage in
accommodation placement (bed-space) for male street-sleepers. As reported by the working group report in
1993, the average utilization rate was more than 90%. In addition, the lowest admission age for these shelters is
usually 55. It makes street-sleepers
aged below 55 hard to move in. But
these younger street-sleepers may improve their living faster than those over
55 once they have a temporary shelter.
However, the service accessibility for the middle age and younger people
is highly restricted by the present policy.
There is no
helping program and counseling offered in many shelters/ hostels. 69.2 per cent of bed-spaces has no social
workers responsible for providing professional service. There is also no rehabilitation program
offered to those who are suspected to be drug addicts, alcoholics, and mentally
ill patients. Also, even for those who
have no problems, they cannot easily get back on track to restart their lives
without any professional help from social workers. Therefore, the service quantity and quality of shelters/ hostels
services are definitely required to be improved. Furthermore, all the shelters/ hostels should have basic necessities,
such as lockers, telephones, cooking facilities, to attract street-sleepers to
move in. And thus, the helping process
can be furthered in the shelters/ hostels when they are settled in there.
(E) Conclusion and Recommendations
The following conclusion can be drawn based on the findings of this study:
1. The existing Government policy dealing with street-sleepers is
out of the present socioeconomic context.
The policy does not fit street-sleepers¡¯ needs and help them to solve
their problems. Government should
review the existing policy and formulate a comprehensive one so as to help
street-sleepers re-integrate into the society.
Also, the problem of street-sleeping should be placed in a higher
priority of government agenda.
2. After the economic downturn in 1997, unemployment rate has
increased sharply. Since unemployment
is the one of the main reasons leading to street-sleeping, The Government
should formulate appropriate labor policy and social security policy to prevent
people falling into street-sleeping.
3. Integrated service
should be the mode of street-sleeper service.
Such service should include outreaching service, day centre service,
hostel service, counseling, rehabilitation services (such as drug and alcohol
abstaining services) as well as employment counseling service. This service had better to be operated by
NGOs under the subvention of Government.
Hostels of integrated service should be located in the urban areas such
as TST, YMT, and SSP so street-sleepers can easily get access to the service.
4. The Government should review the singleton housing demand and
formulate appropriate housing policy for accommodating singleton. We suggest that the Government should build
more single premises in public housing or long-term hostel for singleton to
shorten the waiting time of singleton in waiting for public housing. The other way is to facilitate singleton to
rent private accommodations under the assistance of Government.
5. SWD should conduct a more
comprehensive survey on street-sleepers to understand the community
better. The following areas are
suggested for the survey:
Street-sleeper's
needs and problems;
Their comments on
existing service analysis;
Needs and
difficulties of seasonal street-sleepers;
Needs and
difficulties of street-sleepers of other nationalities such as Vietnamese;
Interview on
hostel residents to understand their needs and problems
6. More outreaching
teams and day relief centres (subvented by the Government) should be
established to serve all the street-sleepers in Hong Kong. These services should be provided by NGOs
solely so that more flexibility services can be resulted. The Government should provided more
resources to day relief centres so that they can provide free meal, bathing and
basic living materials such as blankets and clothes. Day relief centre should open at night for street-sleepers to
drop in.
7. Government should
standardize the facilities provided in all shelters. Such standardized facilities should include telephone, kitchen,
private locker, and air-conditioning.
Shelters should not be closed in the day time. Also, Government should subvent shelters to upgrade its
facilities.
8. Medical
professionals should be incorporated in outreaching teams so that the medical
professionals can assess the mentally ill, alcoholic, senile dementia, and
mentally handicapped street-sleepers, etc at site. Then, they can arrange any medical referral directly if
necessary.
9. We suggest that
the existing services should be increased as the following schedule:
- Outreaching teams
- At least 20 outreaching workers should be added to serve street-sleepers in
Hong Kong, each having a caseload of 40.
- Day centres - four
more day centres should be established in the districts of Sham Shui Po,
Kowloon City, Central/Western, and Tsuen Wan, in where, the percentages of
street-sleepers in SWD Survey 1996 are 22.7%, 11.2%, 8.7%, and 4.1%
respectively.
- Shelters - At
least 400 vacancies should be provided.
The existence of
street-sleepers is a shame to every people living in Hong Kong. Being an international and prosperous city,
it is hard to imagine that Hong Kong fails to accommodate only more than one
thousand people in even temporary accommodations. It is expected that through the issue of this study report, the
society can concern about the desperate situation of street-sleepers. And Government and NGOs is strongly advised
to improve their policies and services for helping this community.
To
tackle the issue of street-sleeping, it is inevitable to deal with the issue of
poverty. Thus, street-sleeping should
be interpreted in a broader socioeconomic context. When our society still not facing the issue of poverty, the
phenomenon of street-sleeping will continue to exist.
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