High Hong Kong rents and long public housing queues push more to homelessness
High rents, long queues for public housing, and time limits on permitted stays at homeless shelters create ‘vicious cycle’
Hong Kong’s exceptionally high rents and long queues for public housing have pushed more and more people, even those with jobs, to sleep rough on the streets or at fast food restaurants operating round the clock, according to social workers and community groups.
Social workers and community groups complain the current rule limiting the homeless to no more than six months in government-subsidised hostels is one reason this marginalised group returns to the streets. They argue these people have no choice but to sleep rough because it is almost impossible for them to earn and save enough money to find their own place in a matter of months.
“When I show up at job interviews with a big backpack, employers kind of guess that I’m a homeless person,” says 34-year-old Ka-hei, who asked that his surname not be disclosed. “Not to mention I don’t have an address to fill in the application form.”
Ka-hei says he became one of the city’s hundreds of homeless six years ago after he quit his full-time property agent job due to health problems. Since then, he has been taking temporary work that does not bring in sufficient money for him to rent a place.