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Clearing away the homeless people's belongings

2022-04-06T07:26:17.201Z


Chief Executive Carrie Lam recently expressed her deep condolences to the patients who passed away from the epidemic. This belated condolence has brought greater confusion to the bereaved family. The patient has no way to seek medical treatment, fails to be admitted to the hospital, and died of the epidemic. The family members are exhausted and even resigned.


Chief Executive Carrie Lam recently expressed her deep condolences to the patients who passed away from the epidemic. This belated condolence has brought greater confusion to the bereaved family. The patient has no way to seek medical treatment, failed to be admitted to the hospital, and died of the epidemic. The family members are exhausted, and even passed away nearly one Yue was notified to identify the corpse, "open the body bag and see the carrion" - how many lives should society still mourn for the lives lost due to the changed anti-epidemic policies?


Street sleepers in Sham Shui Po filed for compensation for discarding their belongings from the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department. Some of them died before the ruling. A few days ago, the homeless was ruled in favor of the case, and each person was awarded 100 yuan in compensation.

Why is the government's apology and review always late?

Did the families of the deceased and the homeless really receive "deep condolences" and "belated justice" from the SAR government?


The movie "Drifting in Turbid Water" mentioned that the FEHD discarded the belongings of the homeless in Sham Shui Po during the "clearance operation". Many homeless people sued the government with the assistance of social work organizations.

(Still from "Drifting on Turbid Water")

The new crown epidemic has pushed up the number of unemployed and homeless people, but most of the grassroots have long faced poverty, underemployment and low income.

The government acknowledges that the needs of street sleepers involve many policy areas, including social welfare, civil affairs, housing, medical care, environmental hygiene, etc. It is a major livelihood issue that crosses policy bureaux and requires cross-departmental collaboration between the government. .

Taking accommodation as an example, the homeless cannot afford the rent. What they need most is a place with a certain rental period. However, the current overall supply of places subsidized by the SWD and self-financing by voluntary organizations cannot keep up with the homeless. The number has increased, and the period of accommodation is only three months to six months, which is not enough to help the homeless save to find another suitable accommodation, and some have to sleep in the rough again.

This requires the cooperation of planning, civil affairs, social welfare and district councils to build additional places and transitional housing.

In terms of health care, the homeless are less likely to seek medical attention and are more likely to lose medication and registration documents.

Currently, only a few voluntary organisations provide outreach teams with medical staff to assess the mental and behavioural health of the homeless.

Concern groups suggested that outreach services and outreach vehicles should be added to the medical-community partnership to better care for their physical, mental, and spiritual needs.

In response to the verdict, the chief executive said categorically that the department responsible for the homeless "must be the Social Welfare Department".

However, since the needs of the homeless involve multiple departments, the SWD, which provides services for the homeless, is not suitable unless the SWD can expand the scope of its involvement in the homeless, not only providing services, but also formulating and reviewing existing policies. Whether it increases the well-being of the homeless.

This requires the empowerment of the higher-level Labour and Welfare Bureau in the government structure, as well as communication and coordination between the bureau and other bureaux.

In addition, Hong Kong can refer to the "Housing First" direction of foreign governments or relief groups to reduce the review, assessment and waiting time of the homeless, consider sudden housing problems, and minimize the period of homelessness.

The government acknowledges that the causes of sleepless nights are complex, but they also need to be dealt with.

The plight of the homeless is similar to that of the poor, sick and unemployed.

Relying solely on cleaning and eviction actions can help the helpless and homeless.

To address the current needs, various departments should prudently formulate "homeless-friendly policies".

Representatives of the homeless go to the Small Claims Tribunal of the West Kowloon Court to hear the verdict.

(Photo by Lu Nuojun)

For details, please read the 311th issue of "Hong Kong 01" Electronic Weekly Newsletter (April 4, 2022) "

Clearing away the homeless people's belongings and not getting rid of the homeless predicament

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Source: hk1

All news articles on 2022-04-06

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