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Budget | Grassroots couples earn only thousands of consumer vouchers a month to become life-saving straw wives: directly help

2023-02-20T23:43:44.170Z


The 59-year-old Ms. Shan was infected with the new crown last year. Her physical strength was not as good as before. In addition to her insomnia, she was unable to cope with the 12-hour work of replacing security guards. However, after switching to a part-time cleaner, her monthly income dropped by more than half. Together with the part-time trowel,


The 59-year-old Ms. Shan was infected with the new crown last year. Her physical strength was not as good as before. In addition to her insomnia, she was unable to cope with the 12-hour work of replacing security guards. However, after switching to a part-time cleaner, her monthly income dropped by more than half.

Together with the income earned by the husband who works part-time as a mower and occasionally drives a taxi, the monthly income of the two is less than 5,000 yuan, which is far below the poverty line of 9,500 yuan for a two-person family in 2020.


The couple rents a 60-square-foot sub-divided room, and the monthly rent is 2,500 yuan, which has already taken up more than half of their income. Other daily expenses should be reduced as much as possible. Ms. Shan said that thanks to the consumption vouchers, they can be used to buy food and disinfectants , so that they finally "survived".

The government will announce the budget tomorrow (22nd). She said frankly that she hopes to continue to have consumer vouchers, "Consumer vouchers can help us directly. If 10,000 mosquitoes are used for 1,000 mosquitoes, I can use them for adults. Wow! OK!"


After being diagnosed and recovering, he gets tired easily and turns to a part-time cleaning job with a monthly income of only $3,000

Ms. Shan is 59 years old and used to be a replacement security guard. Before the epidemic, she worked about three or four days a week and earned about 6,000 to 7,000 yuan a month. However, after recovering from the epidemic last year, she felt that her physical strength was not as good as before. It made her tired easily during the day, and it was difficult for her to cope with the 12-hour security guard work, so she had to change jobs to do cleaning.

She currently works five days a week and works about three or four hours a day. She can cope physically and mentally, but her monthly income has been greatly reduced to 3,000 yuan.

Ever since I got the disease, I have been sick. I don’t even have the energy to do 12 hours. I have insomnia every night. I can’t sleep. It’s been 10 months and I don’t know how to stop. , Insomnia every night, I have no energy, I can't handle it for 12 hours.

single lady

Husband "Tongbozai" has an unstable job as a replacement taxi driver to earn breakfast

Ms. Shan continued to mention that her husband, who is over 60 years old, is in deteriorating health. He had a heartache earlier. After seeking medical treatment, he found that many blood vessels were blocked. Helping people clean their cars and put their watches in, sometimes they have meals, and they help others take taxis for an hour or two. In this way, he still has his own meal in the morning, and he has no money to carry back home, so he can't take care of himself. , it all depends on me.”

Ms. Shan said that she should try her best to keep her monthly expenses within 500 yuan. Fortunately, she had "consumer vouchers" in the past two years, which allowed her to increase her budget for food and daily necessities.

(Photo by Zhang Haowei)

The monthly expenditure budget is only 500 yuan, and you can spend 1,000 yuan a month with coupons

According to the "Hong Kong Poverty Situation Report 2020", there are 1.653 million poor people in Hong Kong, of which 805,000 belong to working households.

Ms. Shan and her husband are examples of working poverty. Their current combined monthly income is less than 4,000 or 5,000 yuan, which is far below the poverty line of 9,500 yuan for a two-person family in 2020.

The couple rents a 60-square-foot subdivision at a monthly rent of 2,500 yuan, which has already spent most of their income.

For other daily expenses, Ms. Shan said that she should keep it within 500 yuan as much as possible. If it exceeds this budget, she will feel "stressed". Fortunately, she has "consumer vouchers" in the past two years, so that she can sometimes increase her budget for food and daily necessities , "Fortunately, there are consumption coupons, which sometimes cost 1,000 yuan." She also exchanged some of the consumption coupons into supermarket cash coupons of 50 yuan each, and saved them for future use.

Insufficient working hours cannot claim working family allowance

Life is tight, and I tried to apply for low-income working family allowances, but because of insufficient working hours, I could not meet the minimum working hours requirements for WFA, so I was still unable to apply.

Ms. Shan said that she doesn’t want to rely on the government’s help, but it’s difficult to face the current plight of life on her own. The budget will be released tomorrow. She hopes that the government will distribute another 10,000 yuan in consumer coupons. , I can use an adult, wow! How good it is!"

Those of us who are low-income and suffering from illnesses really hope that they will have consumer coupons. It is best to distribute 10,000 yuan, which is the best, because it can help us... The consumer coupons can help us directly. If 10,000 yuan Mosquitoes, separate 1000 mosquitoes, I can use adults, wow!

How nice!

If there are 5,000 mosquitoes, I will use 500 mosquitoes separately, and they will all help adults.

It must be helpful to adults first. I think it is useless to help for a few months. You will be very hesitant.

single lady

If there are coupons, they will be used to buy food: Those who have nothing to eat actually want to eat everything

Most of the coupons I received in the past were used to buy food. If there were more coupons, Ms. Shan said without hesitation that they would all be used to buy food. Those who have nothing to eat actually want to eat everything, but those who have to eat don’t want to eat. I go to the (supermarket) and want to buy everything, and I want to buy bags of sugar. Sometimes I cook some beans by myself Sugar water, why do you want sugar racks, in fact, you want to buy everything.”

Ms. Shan mentioned that many people are still unemployed and many industries have not yet recovered. She believes that the "Temporary Unemployment Assistance Program" launched by the government has greatly helped the grassroots. She hopes that the government will consider launching it again.

Liu Yanshan, community organization officer of the Hong Kong Association for Community Organizations, pointed out that the epidemic has lasted for three years, and many grassroots citizens are also facing life difficulties similar to Ms. Shan.

(Photo by Zhang Haowei)

Liu Yanshan, community organization officer of the Hong Kong Association for Community Organizations, pointed out that the epidemic has lasted for three years, and many families are facing underemployment and unemployment. Some of them have to rely on savings or even borrow money to survive. dilemma.

She cited an earlier survey conducted by the Social Association, in which more than 900 interviewed neighbors expressed their support for the government to distribute consumer coupons again.

The Social Association also put forward a suggestion in this regard, urging the government to distribute consumer vouchers again, or set up a grassroots living allowance of 10,000 yuan to help the grassroots improve their lives.

Regarding the application threshold for the WFA, she suggested that the government refer to the practice of lowering the threshold for the WFA once during the epidemic, lower the working hours requirements for the WFA, and at the same time consider increasing the amount of the allowance.

Difficult to raise the minimum wage to slow down the working poverty The government outsources the low salary level and the trade unions are still urging to ban more than 30% of the public housing applications. Nearly 20% of the households who apply for subdivided flats have become new immigrants. Ninety percent of the monthly cost of medicine is 1,000 yuan and 90% are delayed due to poverty. Research by the Federation of Social Welfare reveals that more than half of eligible subdivided housing households have not applied for CSSA, and 70% of workers are below the poverty line. 10,000 yuan in cash for the poverty alleviation group to distribute consumption coupons?

Li Zhaobo advocates research and only distributes $5000 at most to stimulate the local economy in the short term

Source: hk1

All news articles on 2023-02-20

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