Hotel Homeless - Bright Lights, Bleak City
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The Straits Times had run a special report on Saturday 10 Dec, Hotel Homeless. It probably hinting us that poor and homeless people existed even in rich metropolis, London, Japan, Korea, Australia and The United States.
Hope the Straits Times will cover another special report, Hotel Homeless in Singapore.
They probably could grab some pictures from:
http://www.singaporedemocrat.org/povertyII.html -
this is the promise of the PAP for "more good years"?
haha -
My American friend is so surprised he can't find homeless in Singapore.
Homeless people are housed in homes in Singapore by the govt so they are rare in Singapore. Some choose to live homeless because they like it. -
Someone posted an article in this forum sometime back in relation to this topic with a website displaying photos of homeless people.
In all, there were over 50 shots taken with a hi-resolution camera at various locations in SG. (many were repetitions from various angles so i reduced the actual number to ard 50)
So yes..a homeless problem exist locally. But some people prefer to deny it. -
A problem? How many homeless people are there in Singapore, a city of 4 million?
What is the real problem? Can we make a comparison with London, Hong Kong, Seoul and New York and see where we stand? -
Must our homeless numbers multiply exponentially before some people accept the cold truth?
Must there be homeless sleeping at every corner in Singapore before some of us acknowledge this? (and ironically compare it with NY and London?)
http://photobucket.com/albums/y29/vnc2005/Swiss_Standard_of_Living/ -
Don't you think you need to put perspective on the so called 'problem' here?
Why don't you help solve the problem by offreing one of your room to one of these homeless people? Do you really care? -
You denied and downplayed the homeless problem in SG.Originally posted by Salman:Don't you think you need to put perspective on the so called 'problem' here?
Why don't you help solve the problem by offreing one of your room to one of these homeless people? Do you really care?
When provided with irrefutable proof, you try to shift the focus to providing shelter for these poor souls and then turning this into a personal attack.
Could it get any more lame from you? -
The solution to homelessness is a shelter rigt? Why bring out a problem and no solution? Why ignore the solution? But before we solve the problem, we gotta know how many are there right?
1? 2? 20? 2000? How many? Do you really care? -
For someone who claims that people in this forum only complain with no substance and evade your line of questioning, you seem very adept at it yourself.Originally posted by Salman:The solution to homelessness is a shelter rigt? Why bring out a problem and no solution? Why ignore the solution? But before we solve the problem, we gotta know how many are there right?
1? 2? 20? 2000? How many? Do you really care?
Well? What's your answer? Is there or is there not a homeless problem in SG? A simple Yes or No will do. -
talking to him is a waste of time.Originally posted by BillyBong:For someone who claims that people in this forum only complain with no substance and evade your line of questioning, you seem very adept at it yourself.
Well? What's your answer? Is there or is there not a homeless problem in SG? A simple Yes or No will do.
ignore the troll. -
But how can you know if it is really a problem if you do not know how many homeless are there in Singapore?
You mean you dunno? You ignore the 'problem'? -
Gents, Gents, Homeless people do exist in Singapore ... more, if you count some chappies living at the rubbish dumps at certain housing estates, (and some illegal immigrants I've chances upon living underneath a certain big drain before, but that's another story)
If a person claims that homeless people doesn't exist in Singapore, then he/she must either be blind, or lives in a very different strata of society from the rest of us plebes (and if you think that social stratification doesn't exist in Singapore too, then yeah, you must be blind) ....
but i think it's pretty silly and pointless too, to take pictures of all these society's unfortunate ones just to disprove the goverment's official spiel ... shouldn't we be working towards a solution instead ? ... (or are we pushing the responsibility to the goverment, again, ? ... ) if the whole exercise was simply to stick a finger in the face of the ruling party, then i'd say it's a pretty callous thing to do.
looking at these pictures, certain things struck me, most of the "homeless" people are old folks, were they abandoned by their families ? or just single, lonely folks with no one to turn to ? ... as the number of lowly educated singles and cost of living go up, there may be more of such people on the streets in the future ... this is an area that perhaps some creative goverment affirmative action may help ... -
Truly.Originally posted by Fatum:but i think it's pretty silly and pointless too, to take pictures of all these society's unfortunate ones just to disprove the goverment's official spiel ... shouldn't we be working towards a solution instead ? ... (or are we pushing the responsibility to the goverment, again, ? ... ) if the whole exercise was simply to stick a finger in the face of the ruling party, then i'd say it's a pretty callous thing to do.
looking at these pictures, certain things struck me, most of the "homeless" people are old folks, were they abandoned by their families ? or just single, lonely folks with no one to turn to ? ... as the number of lowly educated singles and cost of living go up, there may be more of such people on the streets in the future ... this is an area that perhaps some creative goverment affirmative action may help ...
It is sad that we have to resort to such unscrupulous means to dispel the blindfolds from our eyes. But these are not isolated incidents.
And while our govt brazenly preach the goal of 'swiss standard of living', these chaps are roughing out the void decks.
Anyhow, a govt sanctioned shelter is only a short-term solution to the growing problem. The CPF bubble is about to burst, and that can only lead to more people having financial difficulties in their senior age. HDB prices are going up despite being 'heavily subsidised'. Food prices are sky-rocketing. Everywhere you look, inflation is slowly setting in.
This means an older retirement age in years to come and younger market entrants unable to land a decent job without 'displacing' old stubborn high-wage getters. And who can blame them for protecting their own interests? Bills still need to be paid, food isn't gonna drop from the sky and your children's education will need funding right up to tertiary level.
A vicious cycle unleashed. -
its not just the old folks... many ppl have been reported to sleep at the beaches with tents, according to the straits times. This include the young ones as well. My theory is that the young ones are capable and know where to seek help. Another reason is such news might be blacked out due to less reports from the media.
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I suppose we have to decide as a society how much help do we want to extend to these unfortunate ones, and more importanly how much of a safety net do we want in our society ? Obviously a social security system a la USA is out of question, certain groups of people in Singapore may simply choose to leach off society then, as they do over here, able bodied people most of them, if millions of Americans are on welfare because they can't find a job, how do you explain the millions of illegals who sneak into the country for the jobs that they couldn't find enough workers for then ? ...
and of course, such huge social spending comes with a heavy cost, would you be willing to pay 40% income tax ? ... or 14% sales tax ? (7% GST, 7% PST) .... that's what I'm paying now ..... to feed a bunch of "society's unfortunate", some of whom live in the same apartment block as i do, spending their days drinking coffee at the cafe across the road ... able bodied all ...
at the risk of sounding cynical, we do have to realise that no matter how successful or wealthy a society is, there will always be failures in the society, this, is simple social dynamics, for certain issues, there's only so much we can do as a society, we can legislate laws to enable parents to sue their children for support, but we can't prevent children from abandoning hapless old folks, there's nothing we can do to ensure that no lame and maimed exist in a society (unless you're Hitler !) ... Frankly, though, i'm not quite sure if there's a root solution to this issue. What do you guys think ? ... -
Except our salaries.Originally posted by BillyBong:Everywhere you look, inflation is slowly setting in.
Wonder who benefited from the 5% estimated economic growth this year? -
some of whom live in the same apartment block as i do, spending their days drinking coffee at the cafe across the road ... able bodied all ...
able bodied? nowadays to able to gain more chance in getting a job you need to be a female(and a chiobu) unless you have good bootlicking skills/ sign on. Being able bodied is just a basic req. I remember there was quite a few times when i call a number for a job and they say :'sorry we are looking for females only'.
Employers mindset must also change. Old workers can also contribute to society as well.
If our government can spend billions of dollars to upgrade buildings i don't see how much it would hurt just to help old and needy ppl with 500 bucks a month. Could also help them to get jobs. -
n the govt reason is "WORKFARE NOT WELLFARE"Originally posted by depressed:able bodied? nowadays to able to gain more chance in getting a job you need to be a female(and a chiobu) unless you have good bootlicking skills/ sign on. Being able bodied is just a basic req. I remember there was quite a few times when i call a number for a job and they say :'sorry we are looking for females only'.
Employers mindset must also change. Old workers can also contribute to society as well.
If our government can spend billions of dollars to upgrade buildings i don't see how much it would hurt just to help old and needy ppl with 500 bucks a month. Could also help them to get jobs. -
Sloganeering has eaten into our society. Through slogans, problems are convenently mulled over or postponed or justisfied instead of being solved.Originally posted by kaka_22:n the govt reason is "WORKFARE NOT WELLFARE"
Through slogans like Tripartism, Job enlargement, Retraining, welfarism etc, many of our problems were grossed over. This is the kind of governance we are getting. If leaders are effective, they have to take care of the unemployed people seeking jobs currently being turned down by employers because too many jobs are still going to the foreigners who can easily claim to be foreign talents. -
And the question still stands, how many homeless people are there in Singapore? How do we know if we really do have a problem if we do not know how many?
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I believe no matter how developed or rich a country is, there are bound to be people who are forced to live on the streets. In Singapore, it may seem like everyone has a roof over our heads, jobs, education, etc, but we all know that homeless Singaporeans do exist. We all know it like its a dirty little secret.
I'm not sure if it's the Asian mentality or if it's just a Singaporean mentality. The homeless people issue is just like any other issue which the Singaporean "public" (whatever that means) are not willing to discuss openly. Issues such as the alternative culture (ie homosexuality), sexuality education, "white horses" in the military, true meaning of democracy and among others.
Instead of discussing if homeless people exist in Singapore, perhaps we should discuss on what we can do about the issue. -
Bingo ! ... how apt ! .....Originally posted by modgurl:Instead of discussing if homeless people exist in Singapore, perhaps we should discuss on what we can do about the issue.
the sad thing is many individuals in this forum use this as a rant spot against the goverment rather than an avenue for constructive discussion .... some seemed more interested in throwing a few sentence worth of put-downs than discussing answers ..... -
what kind of rubbish are you talking about?Originally posted by Salman:And the question still stands, how many homeless people are there in Singapore? How do we know if we really do have a problem if we do not know how many?
how many people are unemployed in singapore? i think the government dont even have a figure.
does that mean we dont have unemployment problems in singapore? -
Actually, i think the govt do recognize this issue; they just haven't reacted quickly enough because the problem is not wide-spread yet.Originally posted by Fatum:Bingo ! ... how apt ! .....
the sad thing is many individuals in this forum use this as a rant spot against the goverment rather than an avenue for constructive discussion .... some seemed more interested in throwing a few sentence worth of put-downs than discussing answers .....
On the other hand, a sanctioned study needs to be conducted to determine the backgrounds, employment and family history of these people. Only then, can they grasp the predicament of these folks. That will define how our govt should approach the situation.
If the majority of these homeless are actually forced from their homes, then a govt body should address reconciliation or legal action. If instead they are true blue homeless, then offering a temporary shelter while opening a channel for 'adoption' into other homesteads may be an option.
The next step will have to be preventive action. Or perhaps both should be tackled simultaneously.