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With the approach of the Lunar New Year, the Director of Social Welfare, Mr Patrick Nip, sent his warm regards to the underprivileged during his visit to Sham Shui Po today (February 8).
Mr Nip first paid a visit to the activity centre of the Christian Concern for the Homeless Association where he joined dozens of street sleepers, residents of cubicle apartments and front-line social workers at their year-end reunion lunch. He chatted with some street sleepers to understand their situation and introduced them to services provided by the Social Welfare Department (SWD) and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
"The Government is always concerned about the needs of street sleepers, providing them with a wide range of support services to cater to their emergency needs as well as to enhance their work skills, which will help them quit street sleeping and move towards self-reliance," Mr Nip said.
By subventing NGOs, namely the Christian Concern for the Homeless Association, St James' Settlement and the Salvation Army, the SWD has set up three Integrated Services Teams for Street Sleepers to offer one-stop services across the territory, including day and late-night outreaching visits, emergency shelter and short-term hostel placement, employment guidance, personal care, an emergency relief fund, arrangement of long-term accommodation, counselling and service referrals and so on.
According to the Street Sleepers Registry of the SWD, there are 555 registered street sleepers as of the end of December 2012.
Today, Mr Nip also visited an underprivileged family of five living at Tai Po Road in Sham Shui Po. He took the opportunity to understand the daily life and needs of the family. He brought them a fruit hamper and encouraged the family to face the challenges of life.
To prevent and deal with family problems more efficiently, the Government has allocated additional resources to set up four new Integrated Family Service Centres (IFSCs) in Sham Shui Po District, Kwun Tong District, Yuen Long District, and Kowloon City District and Yau Tsim Mong District, bringing the total number of IFSCs from 61 in 2011 to 65 in February 2013. After the opening of the IFSC operated by the Hong Kong Christian Service in Sham Shui Po District in December 2011, two new IFSCs - one run by the Hong Kong Family Welfare Society in Kwun Tong District and another run by the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals in Yuen Long District - also commenced services on January 28 this year. A new IFSC, to be operated by the SWD, will be open on February 25 to serve Kowloon City District and Yau Tsim Mong District.
All IFSCs provide an array of preventive, supportive and remedial services through their Family Resource Units, Family Support Units and Family Counselling Units to assist residents to deal with personal and family challenges.
Ends/Friday, February 8, 2013
Issued at HKT 16:23
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