Hong Kong people's impression of the homeless is generally negative feelings such as self-inflicted, dirty, lazy, unpredictable and dangerous behavior; but I don't know how many people have thought about it: In fact, you and I don't both want to look good. , Have a stable job, have cherished family and friends, have dreams and hopes?
So why do these homeless people fall into the situation of homelessness? Why is the number of homeless people still rising every year in the prosperous city of Hong Kong?
Written by: Wu Zhaokang Registered Social Worker, Tonglushe Project Manager (Casework)
The characteristics of the homeless are extremely diverse and the age group is broad. According to the 2021 Hong Kong Homeless Population Census conducted by a number of social welfare groups and the Chinese University, 40% (39%) of the homeless have chronic diseases, and 15% (15.5%) homeless persons are physically disabled.
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It is not easy to answer the above questions.
The reasons for the formation of the homeless are quite complex. In addition to the personal problems caused by oppression that plague the homeless, other structural factors such as social culture and politics cannot be ignored.
The characteristics of the homeless are extremely diverse and the age group is broad. According to the 2021 Hong Kong Homeless Population Census conducted by a number of social welfare groups and the Chinese University, 40% (39%) of the homeless have chronic diseases, and 15% (15.5%) homeless persons are physically disabled.
In terms of mental health, about 30% (28.7%) had symptoms of depression, 20% (26.3%) had symptoms of anxiety, and various addiction problems; those with hoarding disorder were forced to leave their original homes; There are family factors, such as sacrificing oneself to live on the streets for the children to set up a family to get more space, and on the contrary, the children sacrifice their parents to cause them to live on the streets; another mental disability cannot follow the normal life rules; the special situation of young people; Temporary unemployment due to the epidemic; rehabilitated persons and refugees encounter social oppression, etc.
All of these are the basic causes of "homelessness". Most of them are a group of people who cannot be dealt with under the social welfare protection net, forgotten and marginalized. They have also lost their basic housing rights due to different chain effects.
Even if the homeless have love and support, if there are still "labels" in the community, stepping into "Second Life" is still an unattainable goal and a distant dream.
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It is difficult to rule out social labels and step into "Second Life"
In addition to providing basic protection (accommodation and hot meals) for the homeless, Tonglu She also re-establishes a healthy life routine through sports and art groups, counseling and medical programs, etc. It also provides volunteer training services and full-time job opportunities. , let them re-energize themselves, etc., but even if the agency is fully involved, it is often twice the result with half the effort.
The reason is that the body and mind of the homeless have been wiped out by the difficulties of being homeless for a long time, and they have lived under the cold eyes of the public for a long time. Social stigma; if the sense of incapacity and powerlessness keeps getting worse, the mental health of the individual will become unsatisfactory along with rolelessness.
Coupled with the lack of family support, in the face of social exclusion, a lot of negative experiences haunt them. Even if the homeless have love and support, if there are still "labels" in the community, stepping into " Second Life is still an elusive goal, a distant dream.
The key to transforming the homeless is, first and foremost, to stop building social stigma.
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The key to homeless conversion must stop social stigma
The key to transforming the homeless is, first and foremost, to stop building social stigma.
Social stigma refers to the prejudice and negative attitude of the public towards the disadvantaged, which separates ordinary citizens from the disadvantaged. A fixed stereotype is constructed and becomes a sign of shame.
More importantly, who constructed this stigma?
Policy, social culture and education all have certain influences.
First of all, in terms of policy, as a local authority, the attitude of the government is not to help the homeless to reintegrate into society, but to adopt a policy of eviction.
The government frequently washes the floor and sprinkles stinky powder, removes the top of the pavilion, and lays a pebble array at the bottom of the bridge, hoping to prevent the homeless from sleeping in the open.
The FEHD even led a team to clear the field in the cold early morning, confiscating and discarding the belongings of the homeless, refusing to return them. In addition, the police also suspected that the property of the street sleeper was damaged and even attacked the street sleeper himself.
All of these reflect the status of the homeless in society.
There are many homeless people who have worked hard and contributed to the society, but have no choice but to sleep rough because of various factors, encounters or choices; when the government regards the homeless as not the beneficiaries, but the destroyers, it will form a vicious circle, which will cause the community to suffer. of residents resent them, repeatedly complaining and applying pressure, refusing to try to understand, agreeing that homeless people are a danger to the general public, fearing contact with them, and avoiding where they are.
Capitalism and causality tend to reinforce negative attitudes towards homelessness
Hong Kong society, culture and education all pay more attention to personal responsibility and change their destiny through their own efforts.
In a capitalist society, more work is more rewarding.
As long as you work hard and diligently, you will eventually get power, money and status and get the reputation of "successful people" in the society.
This concept makes it easier for the public to misunderstand that homeless people are lazy and self-inflicted.
In addition, Hong Kong people are generally deeply influenced by traditional Chinese culture. Chinese culture has many causal thinking and many concepts of destiny, such as "poor people must have something hateful, groundless people must have a cause, there must be a cause and a consequence, and retribution is unhappy. ” etc. These proverbs generally assume that the client has made a mistake, but in fact they are partial.
Similar narratives have been circulating among citizens and have reinforced negative attitudes toward homelessness.
Daily cultural influences, coupled with social stigma, gradually manifested in the interpersonal relationship between language and daily life, leading the community to construct a discourse, such as "Nine percent of street sleepers are drug addicts, and wherever there are street sleepers, Dangerous, homeless people are lazy and self-inflicted.” Such unsubstantiated remarks spread like a virus, causing ruthless oppression of the homeless.
The most serious consequence of social stigma is that the homeless identify and internalize the negative views and beliefs of social stigma, leading to self-stigma, which means that they have accepted that they are "dangerous, self-inflicted, and irreversible." Yes.” Self-stigma can be devastating to a person, and by the time self-stigma has been around for a long time, they either don’t take a step, or they can’t take that step.
Reconstructing the power position of disadvantaged groups
To change the oppression of social stigma, it is necessary to confront the oppressive language and behavior, and reconstruct the position of power (identity) of the disadvantaged.
The most fatal weakness of the homeless is that "history" and "story" are covered up by the times. "Voice", "value" and "persistence" have never been witnessed in themselves or in the hearts of others, so they fight against social stigma. It is necessary to start from the story of witnessing the homeless, and then promote it to the community, that is, "finding history", "regaining ability and belief (empowerment)" to "community education" and "contact".
Tonglushe cooperates with Hong Kong 01 community to publish the life stories of different homeless people from May.
Eight caseworkers recorded eight homeless people through exclusive interviews. Through the empowerment orientation of anti-oppression, the homeless people have more determination and courage to stand up and witness their "life history" and "value" and "belief", while giving the public the opportunity to recognize their clear faces, to explore the problems and social constraints encountered by the homeless from multiple perspectives, to see the homeless people's persistence in life and their belief in changing expectations, so as to reconstruct The self-identification of the homeless allows the community to reduce the stigma against the homeless, and is willing to share more care, respect and trust with this vulnerable group in their daily life.
The Social Association and the homeless went to the headquarters of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department to petition for 100 yuan compensation for the loss of the family, trampling on dignity, and calling for an apology for the cold wave | The cold shelter is difficult to make the homeless feel at ease. Concerned about the organization: the number of help for help increased by 60% within the month of the epidemic to travel with peace of mind | Books into restaurants say that paper books are fragile and prompts to replace homeless people with cards by 20%. More than half of the respondents are sleeping rough for the first time. The research team believes that it is related to the epidemic
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