The Plight of the Homeless

 

The recent spate of homeless cases was brought to a crux when the online citizen ran a report on homeless citizens who formed beach communities in sembawang beach and east coast park, in makeshift tents. Some of the homeless had been there for more than a year. This report catalysed several initiatives to work with the rising cases of homelessness in Singapore, and address the issue of the current homeless, though not without criticism. 

The visibility of these homeless cases are also evident from the viewpoint of this social worker working directly in the field. The combination of rocketing property prices together with increasing income gap between low wage earners and their middle income counterparts is especially disconcerting within the developed country of Singapore.

With the increased property prices, sellers are asking for cash over valuation fees (which is the amount that sellers ask for in cash, other costs may be covered by the housing development board loan as well as your central provident fund savings) of at 15000 to 30000 dollars even for 3 room flats, amounts which most low income families may not have.

 

This leaves them the option of purchasing flats directly from hdb at subsidized costs, but even then their chances of obtaining a flat is limited by the long queues waiting for flats that would only be built 2 years later.

Don't get me wrong, personally I believe that the HDB and the CPF are truly magnificent and world class schemes that has put our country way ahead of most others to address community housing and retirement; but these bodies would face a tough challenge ahead to address long term housing issues within the wake of singapore's aging population.

Within these policy endeavour lies those who become homeless due to several reasons. They join the list of thousands who await the allocation of one of HDB's rental one and two room flats, where they pay anywhere from $50 - $230 a month in rental. The most common being:

1. Divorced couples who sell off their flat after messy divorces, and find themselves without a place to live in. Even more stressful for the family is when there are children involved. The money they earn is not enough to purchase a new flat on their own and thus it is spent on rental housing which costs 400-500 a month for a room; or even 1200 a month for a whole flat. These families are rendered homeless when their funds run out. They may not be able to apply for a 2 room flat due to the 30 month debarment period.
2. Families who purchase their flats using bank loans instead of hdb loans, as they have already exhausted the number of times they can apply for a hdb loan. Banks typically take a tougher stance to repossess the flats, when customers default payment.
3. Families who sell off their flat to clear their debts with the intention of purchasing a 3 room flat or downgrade to one of the government subsidized one and two room flats, only to realize that they would have to wait 30 months for the debarment period to lapse before they can even be placed in the queue for rental flats.

 Minister of Community Development Youth and Sports Dr Vivian Balakrishnan had also reiterated the government's stand against homelessness during parliament

“I have insisted that (to) anyone with children. The children must be put in a proper home; they must continue to go to school. They must continue to get access to good food, good hygiene. And if any family has difficulty providing these things to the children, then MCYS will step in, and we will step in assertively if need be, in order to protect children.” 

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, March 2010, in Parliament.

To their credit, MCYS (Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports) has been taking active measures to work with the Family Service Centres (FSCs), Homeless Shelters, and HDB to create protocols and promote collaborative endeavours to address homelessness in Singapore. 

Even more laudable, are the attempts to address issues of homelessness with a preventive, rather than remedial stance. This includes initiatives to work with banks to to properly assess the ability of applicants to repay their loans, and also working with HDB to identify families in debt early, and refer them to the FSC for support. 

Even HDB has gone a long way to address the issue of homelessness through the Interim Rental Housing introduced last year, to allow families already in the queue for HDB flats to temporary bunk in either in 2 room flats or with another family in a 3 room flat with reduced rental fees. However, families who have not been placed in the queue for rental flats (i.e either still in their 30 month debarment period, or assessed to not be eligible for a rental flat). 

This is truly a hard nut to crack, especially when ensuring that everyone has a roof over his or her head. 

In the midst of working towards addressing homelessness in singapore, several challenges persist:

Gaps where adult individuals may not be able to get housing.

The current resources available are naturally (and deservingly) more accessible to families with young children. This leaves adults who either homeless on their own or with spouses/adult children. These adults may be housed in shelters and destitute homes which may make it difficult to suit their employment options. They are unable to rent a flat on their own, as policy dictates that every rental flat needs 2 owners. As a social worker, many a time I see clients who are forced to live nomadic lifestyles within the void decks of Singapore.

Discerning the deserving clients from the less deserving ones. 

This herein lies the biggest challenge for HDB and Policy makers. Does having more brothers and sisters necessary make you less deserving than someone who doesn't? Would "We encourage you to live with your brother who has a 4 room flat" be the solution for the former? What about those who have enough money but do not want to purchase a 3 room flat, or rent a room, for fear of losing all their income within a short period? But what can we then do with the families defined as less deserving, when they are homeless and camping in the community? 

Formulating effective protocols when homeless families are identified

Current methods of addressing homelessness, may also be traumatic for the individual and the family. Destitutes have to undergo one month of strict quarantine to be investigated. Families may have to split up, especially if children welfare is concerned. How do social workers work with the community organisations, together with MCYS to minimise and facilitate this effect. 

Opportunity costs between government rental flats and private rental

There are families who may not have enough savings to purchase a resale flat, but still have significantly enough money and salary to rent a room through private agents. These families are then perceived to be threatening the authorities through their attempts at camping under void decks to gain attention for subsidised rental. On the flip side of the coin, these families may have a point, as they would have to pay more money for just a small room, which would make it difficult for them to accumulate enough savings to purchase their own homes. Rental housing under HDB proves an even better transition step for them as the rental is cheaper, and they can get more privacy through a bigger space. This seems the most probable situation for the family depicted by Al Jazeera HERE. In response to this from the point of view of a case worker, most families who do not have the resources to rent a flat/room in the open market do get "their second chance" to be linked to rental housing (A cab driver and makeup artist, may earn above $3000 combined salary where they would be able to rent a room at the going rate of $400). But of course, I'm only speculating. 

So what can we do to address Homelessness?

This problem is an especially huge and complicated one. The creations of homes to address this issue may only result increased demands for these services, but perhaps a general shelter for families and individuals is needed, with case managers to work with these families on an individualised and intensive basis. If you are talking about Intensive case management, this would be a group that may benefit. 

I feel that MCYS is moving the right direction with its focus on preventive work. On the policy level, there may need to be a greater analysis of the populations housing needs so that we may predict the number of low income families who may be left out in terms of purchasing property. There would also need to be greater publicity and education on families who intend to sell their flat without a clear plan of their future housing needs and arrangements. 

On the ground, there has to be more collaborative and tighter casework and management services to link the several organisations in the community working with lower income families: The community Development councils, FSCs, HDB, MCYS, as well as the Grassroots organisations. Families with financial issues need to be identified and outreached. This is where the true nature of community and social work comes into being. I am somewhat heartened that we are moving towards addressing this issues within a collaborative framework; hence its up to the hands and legs in the community to get this movement going.

Even at the community level, active citizens within grassroots organisations need to effectively outreach and inform fellow citizens about housing policy etc. I firmly believe that the grassroots should always be the first line of support due to its accessibility and familiarity to the general populous. 

Ultimately it takes two hands to clap. The individual needs to be aware of her housing goals and plans, and community resources need to be mobilised collaboratively to support families and persons in need who need that extra hand to push start them into the right track. Proper assessment then needs to be done to advocate for these families and show that they are not able to afford private rental at current market rates, based on their salary. Social Workers play an important role in this.

Of course, in this extremely long post, there are many more issues that I have barely even touched on. So if you have any thoughts, feel free to comment . ;)

A bit more of a personal take here:

Everyone deserves a the right for a proper shelter. From a personal point of view, it is truly sucky (for want of a better word) not to have a home of your own to go to.  Living with other flat owners, even if they are family members, may not necessarily be the best environment to be in. Most will consider this an intrusion into their personal life. The snide remarks muttered, the sarcasm weaved into conversations, are things that you pick up, whether or not you are a child, teenager or adult. 

As I'm walking out of my flat which I share with my wonderful wife today, I feel blessed with what God and life has given me. Yet the overwhelming guilt persists as the shadows of the homeless under the void decks surreptitiously peer on with desperation.

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