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The Director of Social Welfare, Mr Patrick Nip, tonight (January 8) visited an activity centre and a hostel for street sleepers operated by the Christian Concern For The Homeless Association in Sham Shui Po. He also talked to homeless people in the streets.
"The Government is concerned about the needs of street sleepers. We have provided a wide range of support services to address their emergency needs and enhance their work motivation and skills, so as to help them give up street sleeping and become self-reliant," Mr Nip said.
"By means of subventing non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the Social Welfare Department (SWD) has set up three Integrated Services Teams for Street Sleepers (ISTs) to offer tailor-made and one-stop services across the territory, including day and late-night outreaching visits, emergency shelter and short-term hostel placement, employment guidance, personal care, emergency relief fund, arrangement of long-term accommodation, counselling and service referrals.
"The SWD also funds NGOs to operate five hostels and one temporary shelter, providing a total of 192 places of short-term accommodation for street sleepers. In 2010, we plan to buy additional places from self-financing hostels, with a view to increasing the provision by at least 5%," he added.
As for financial support, the SWD has allocated an additional $20,000 as emergency funds for each of the ISTs in 2009/10 and increased the provision of charitable trust funds by $1.35 million to $8.5 million to offer temporary cash grants to individuals and families, including street sleepers, to help them tide over financial difficulties arising from emergencies.
As of November 2009, the number of street sleepers registered by the SWD was 421, recording a moderate drop for the third straight month.
Mr Nip said he hoped the situation would continue to improve along with the enhanced service provided by the department and the ongoing economic recovery.
Ends/Friday, January 8, 2010
Issued at HKT 20:15
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