'I'd rather live on the streets than in a filthy subdivided flat': action needed to tackle Hong Kong's homeless

For the past 16 years, "home" for Leung Bing-kuen has been a couple of ratty mattresses under the Ferry Street flyover in Yau Ma Tei. He has not been able to get regular work since losing his job as a repairman in 1998, and can ill afford the rent for a bed space, let alone a room.

"Many places are not suitable for me," says 60-year-old Leung. "Subdivided flats are so small, there isn't even room to stand - you open the door and you're already at the bed. Anyway, they cost about HK$1,800. It would be pointless."

Leung makes his living from collecting cardboard boxes for recycling, earning between HK$50 and HK$60 from 13 hours of labour each day.

"The money I earn now is just enough to buy food; sometimes when there isn't enough, I eat one meal a day," Leung says. "It's not that I don't want proper work, but at my age and with my health, it's hard to find jobs."

Another street sleeper, who would only give his name as Keung, has fared a little better. The 48-year-old makes between HK$3,000 and HK$4,000 a month from doing odd jobs, and has shuttled between living on the streets and in subdivided flats for the past eight years.

His earnings could stretch to accommodate a bed space, but Keung says he's had enough of that and finds the uncertainties of bedding down in the streets preferable.

"I've rented a subdivided flat before, but the conditions were so poor that I ended up sleeping in the park downstairs," he says. "It was terrible."