Foreseeable podcast: Homelessness in Singapore

"Homelessness exists in Singapore." That's the first thing that Senior Research Fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy Dr Ng Kok Hoe told me when we had a chance to discuss the topic. And it's true. They are just less visible. It's often difficult to distinguish a homeless person from any other member of the public, for a variety of reasons that we'll get into. Dr Ng and his team issued a first of its kind report, "Homeless in Singapore: Results from a Nationwide Street Count," in November of 2019. They estimated there were between 921 and 1,050 street homeless people in Singapore.

Since then, the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has become a global problem. Singapore announced a stringent set of measures, called a "circuit breaker" on April 7th, 2020, designed to curb the spread of the virus. Singaporeans are urged to stay indoors whenever possible and access to public spaces has been tightly controlled. This has complicated the homeless situation, as rough sleepers are urged to move to shelters that are struggling to cope with the situation. And as Dr Ng pointed out in a recent interview on Channel NewsAsia, many of Singapore's homeless people have low-wage jobs in the retail and services industries, which have been some of the hardest hit by the pandemic.

David Austin: Can you start just by describing homelessness in Singapore?

Ng Kok Hoe: The first thing to say would be that homelessness exists in Singapore. I say this because, for a long time, it was something that was not widely acknowledged. Homelessness is also fairly widespread in Singapore, and it can be found in most public housing estates as well as some commercial districts in the central part of Singapore. Sometimes people ask whether homelessness is obvious, whether it can be seen here?

And I'd say, you will see it if you look. And by that, I mean that sometimes it's concealed because for many reasons, homeless persons tend to be quite vigilant and they do what they can to avoid detection. So sometimes they try to find some sort of privacy where they can. But sometimes, they sleep in fairly exposed places.

It's just that when we walk past, it doesn't register. So, in that sense, they are fairly invisible population. I did notice that compared to some other cities, the homeless population here, [are] less likely to be seen begging or panhandling. They also tend to have less bedding or thick clothing with them compared to say, homeless people in colder climates, and so in terms of their appearance, possessions, physical settings, it may not always be apparent who is a homeless person in Singapore.

David Austin: I'm glad you explained that because just my frame of reference is, I mean, I've lived in cities and I've visited other cities where homelessness is quite visible, and you recognise homeless people right away. And you see them either begging or they have their belongings with them, and it's quite obvious. So, yeah, it's, it's a bit surprising that it can exist here without being very visible to the casual observer.

Ng Kok Hoe: Yeah.

David Austin: What are some of the causes of homelessness in Singapore?

Ng Kok Hoe: In general, when we think about homelessness, in, in any city, I think there are three main causes. The first would be poverty and economic disadvantage. The second would be some sort of loss of social resources or the breakdown on social support. And then finally, you would be, some sort of barrier to accessing housing services.

These three factors; poverty, social resources and housing services, they mirror kind of the classic welfare mix of market family and state, in the welfare state. So, while that is generally true in many places, the specific experience of this condition and the way they interact always reflect the local circumstances and, in a way, where and how cracks open up in each society.

So, in Singapore, the poverty experienced by many homeless people has to do with low-wage work. Because most homeless people in Singapore are older, in fact, older men. So, it has to do with low-wage work among older workers in Singapore. This is a widely documented and a much discussed, problem that we are still grappling with.

Older workers in Singapore have a skills disadvantage compared to younger workers. There is a lack of wage protection in general and a lot of competition for some manual jobs. Low-wage work in Singapore's context also tends to be insecure work. Meaning, you don't know when, what will be available and when it wouldn't.

That means that income is also irregular, so they have no means of predicting when is the next time they will be paid or, or how much they would be. I also, became aware of the fact that low-wage work sometimes also means working odd hours. So, the implication of that is that, these people will be working or required to go to work at a time when public transport is no longer running. So, to travel by other means to and from work will be very expensive. So, to some of them, the most practical option would be to find a public place quite near to their workplace, and then, just to sleep there for a few hours. So low-wage work exposes them to the risks of homelessness in all of this way.

In terms of social resources, we see from the research that many of them have experienced family conflict. And as a result of that, have been ejected from the family home. And because most Singaporeans live in public housing, where allocation and access to public housing is based on quite fairly narrowly defined family norms, when someone can no longer live in a family home they also begin to have problems accessing other housing options within the public housing sector. So, for instance, someone whose name is still registered under a certain flat, if he's no longer able to live there, we'll find that he cannot access a second unit of public housing.

So that's the issue of social resources. And then finally, when it comes to housing services, the third factor, the main issue here is the public rental housing system. So, this is subsidised public housing or social housing as we refer to it in most other places. There's a very limited supply of public rental housing in Singapore and difficulties as well, with accessing it.

Over the years, it has been discussed, and also documented , one of the contributing factors to homelessness, is in fact inadequate housing standards within the public rental housing sector, where single persons under current housing rules are required to share a small flat with no separate bedrooms with another unrelated person.

Right? So, to share a space of about 30 odd square meters with a complete stranger. This creates a lot of opportunities for conflict and some of the homeless people we've met have said that they have either found it difficult to live in such conditions or do not want to.

David Austin: Would it be true that there are some people that perhaps could afford a rental property, but there's not a space for them? Or is it more likely that they were in the system, tried it and didn't like it or couldn't conform to the system?

Ng Kok Hoe: With the public rental housing system in Singapore, cost is normally not an issue, because the rents are heavily subsidised. The issue often tends to be the lack of privacy due to the lack of space, right? So that tends to be an issue. Some of the homeless people we've met have tried it before and said that it doesn't work for them. Others have heard about it from their friends, and do not think that it will work out.

David Austin: In your research, what have you found about how do homeless people cope and survive with the difficulties in Singapore?

Ng Kok Hoe: The main strategy for coping or the main reason many of them can manage living in public spaces is that most of them are working and therefore they are economically independent. Although they may not be earning enough to afford a more stable housing than the way they are, they are living in the moment. So that's the first way they are working.

The second thing we discovered is that many homeless people here do in fact maintain contact with family and friends. So, they stay in touch and in fact, they remain quite connected to their geographical communities. They often continue to find a spot to sleep in the neighbourhood where they used to live.

So, they do not move off very far. I suppose that means it's possible to occasionally meet friends and get a bit of help. Others form networks with other homeless people that they find, and then they learn to look out for each other. Other helpful things are, of course, the outreach groups, of which there are several, and shelter services.

Of course, many homeless people also regularly access services and medical care and financial assistance. All these are very important. It's equally important to stress that, not all of them are doing well. They face many hardships. There is a proportion among the homeless population who have persistent health conditions.

Some are not eating well, they do not eat three meals a day. So, problems with nutrition, other common problems that they've reported include theft. They lose their things a lot. Things got stolen, you know, in the night when they're asleep. They face the problem of being checked by the police when they visit, who ask to look at the NRIC and then ask them why they're there.

Sometimes as a result of these checks, they are asked to move on. And then they would just find another space, not so far away. So, it doesn't really address the issue at all, but they have to find another spot. So, as a result, many of them are quite wary about making contact with members of the public.

David Austin: Do you have figures on how large the scale of the homeless problem is?

Ng Kok Hoe: In 2017, that was the first time we tried to measure the scale of homelessness. So, for a long time it was not measured. But the 2017 study in which I was involved, we conducted a count in 20 odd "certainty sites," or known locations. So that year we found 180 homeless people. So, this year was the first time we conducted a nationwide count, and we found between 900 and 1000 homeless people sleeping in public spaces.

David Austin: Wow. Okay. And can you, can you describe the different kinds of efforts that are being made to address the problem? You've touched on a few of them, but can you help us understand the different sources of help and the different methods that are being, attempted?

Ng Kok Hoe: Outreach groups are really important source of help for this population. They are dedicated, they are growing in size and some of them are entirely run by volunteers, which is quite remarkable. So, they play the important role of walking the ground, kind of gathering intelligence and building up the store of knowledge about where to find homeless people, how to engage them. So, between these outreach groups, they provide very precious befriending services, and they also do referrals. So, they help to connect homeless people to more formal and professional services.

So, that's the first sort of effort to help homeless people. The second is of course, several shelter options. They offer kind of stays of different durations. A particularly interesting and important development has been new shelter, initiatives, that were initiated by the Catholic churches.

They are now opening up spaces, to serve as overnight shelters. So, traditionally, most of the available shelters require some sort of commitment from the residents, who wish to stay inside. So, they are expecting some sort of commitment to stay for a particular duration and for people to want to work on their problems and so on.

So, the gap in the menu of services has exactly been kind of emergency or overnight shelters with very few questions asked. That would just allow people to tide over for the time being and to, to regain some stability. Those are the main services, outreach and shelters. We see also in the past year, greater support from the government for these services and also more collaboration between the agencies.

David Austin: You made me think of another question. Did your research show anything about the duration that people are homeless? Is it temporary for some people or is it more likely that they, once they become homeless, they remain homeless till the end of their lives?

Ng Kok Hoe: That's a great question. I said it because going into the research, that was one of the questions we could not kind of predict and answer for. We just had no idea. So, one of the most surprising findings from the research is in fact that, the majority of the people we encounter had been living in a public place for a long time.

So, we're talking more than two years, and some of them, have been living outside for more than 10 years. So, it's fairly long term. And within that period of time, however, not all of them are sleeping outside every day. So, over the course of a week or within a month, they may move between different housing arrangements. Perhaps sometimes at the workplace and then a few days in a week outside. So, persistent in the long run, but also extremely volatile and unstable within the short run.

David Austin: And what is the policy view on homelessness? You know, how does it view homeless people, especially since, as you mentioned on paper, they may have a flat, but they're not able to live there. So how is it, how are they counted or accounted for?

Ng Kok Hoe: I think in the policy landscape, homelessness occupies a very awkward position. I say that because when it comes to housing, the primary strategy, the primary policy strategy in Singapore has been to encourage ownership. So, when someone has their name attached to a flat, and yet is unable to access it, it's almost as if the system freezes and doesn't quite know what to do because this is a homeowner.

And yet because of kind of intangible social reasons, they can no longer access their housing. It's awkward to housing policy, but quite straightforward, when we look at the international housing literature where definitions of homelessness are always attached to the notion of access rather than ownership or legal occupancy rights.

The literature always says that someone is homeless when they are unable to access, an adequate housing option. So, the policy strategy has changed over time, and has also been mixed. On the one hand, if we look at kind of the legalistic view of homelessness. The main kind of legal framework for thinking about homelessness, it's a piece of legislation called the Destitute Persons Act.

It's quite an old piece of legislation, which is reflected in the language and the act, it still refers to a vagrancy. It's not language that we often use in daily life. If you look at the intent of the act, it is a mix of wanting to provide care for homeless people, but also wanting to protect the public from them.

So that's what I mean by a very kind of mixed approach. And this act is really important because it confers power of involuntary admission to welfare institutions. This causes a lot of anxiety among the homeless population, and sometimes it makes them very wary of speaking to people because at the back of their minds, they're always worrying about involuntary admission, which in practical terms is both care as well as a form of detention.

The general approach taken in policy terms towards the homeless population has been outreach first, working with voluntary groups on the ground, trying to understand people's situations and finding, kind of more, more flexible and immediate solutions, be it to help people connect with their families, to find rental housing or placed in a shelter and so on.

So, the instincts and the strategy has not been to admit people to the welfare homes as the first measure, but nonetheless, that that exists in the menu of possibilities.

David Austin: How often does it happen that someone is involuntarily warded of some kind?

Ng Kok Hoe: The figures for the total population in the welfare homes, publicly disclosed, I don't remember them, but we don't know, what that is as a proportion of the people encountered on the streets, at any one night. But the act also specifies a very explicit definition of what it means to be destitute.

So, most homeless people actually do not qualify. Because one of the criteria mentioned in the Destitute Persons Act, is that they have to be begging. Another criterion is that they have no means of subsistence. So, like I mentioned, most homeless people in Singapore are not begging and they, in fact work.

So, they do not fall under the ambit of this Act and therefore cannot be admitted to welfare homes. The issue is always that they do not know that, so there continues to be anxiety.

David Austin: Well, what else have you learned in your research that could be used to make better policies or find new solutions, for the homeless people in Singapore?

Ng Kok Hoe: I think, knowledge about services and connections to services is an area where much more can still be done. Outreach services are still growing currently. And like I mentioned they're mainly voluntary, meaning run by volunteers. There are no publicly funded outreach services catering for the homeless population specifically.

This is an area of need because even if good services are available, people need to be connected to them. And the current community-based and publicly funded services are really not equipped to operate night outreach services. So many of them may be there in the community on the ground, but they provide agency-based services to expect people to walk in. And most homeless people just simply would not.

And another thing that I reflected on while doing the research is that given the complexity of problems, the homeless people face, shelter services, in general, I believe, should not impose short, arbitrary durations of stay just because it takes people time to get to grips with the sort of issues they are facing.

I think there is also scope to develop a different type of shelters. I mentioned earlier, overnight shelters, right, with very low barriers to entry and with immediate availability. I think there is an area where if we compare the services that are currently available in Singapore, as opposed to other countries, is where we are fairly lacking.

The problems with public rental housing, are often discussed. I think if they are fixed, you can provide a very important exit route from homelessness. So that means having an adequate supply and making sure that rental housing policies meet basic standards of privacy. A final area where I think, policy can improve is of course, the Destitute Persons Act.

It causes anxiety towards public agencies, suspicion towards outreach workers, and you can prevent people from getting the help they need. I think that a revision of this Act, or clarification of its application to the homeless population will be very helpful.

David Austin: And how old is that act? When was it enacted?

Ng Kok Hoe: If I'm not wrong, it's the 1960s.

David Austin: I was going to ask you, if there's anything that other countries or cities could learn from the Singapore homeless situation, but first I wanted to ask you, are there any other countries or cities that you think are doing a good job, that you would recommend people learn from?

Ng Kok Hoe: This is a tough question to answer because if we look at the papers, very often we'll see reports of cities and local governments struggling with this issue. All the major cities are; London is, New York is. And I'm not sure if, kind of a very universally applicable set of solutions has been found.

But certain practices are helpful though. One thing is of course, to conduct research, such as counts, regularly. They help us develop our understanding of this population, also help us to monitor our progress on our policy goals.

Other kinds of services that local governments are trying, for example, programmes that prioritise getting people into stable housing before kind of introducing them to other social work services, to address underlying issues.

Many different things are being tried. In fact, Singapore is fairly young in trying to, to tackle the problem of homelessness. And there is still a lot of space for homelessness services to grow. In fact, I would say that Singapore needs to learn from others. And over time as services grow and the network, and coordination between the services improves, then a lot more can be achieved. For example, in the area of data sharing. In places where services are mature and comprehensive, counts don't always need to be conducted, because just exchanging and merging the databases of different service providers can give us a fairly good idea about the scale of homelessness.

David Austin: And finally, what do you foresee, happening in Singapore? Do you foresee the problem getting worse before it gets better, or do you think that there will be some revisions soon that might make things better?

Ng Kok Hoe: I think, prediction always feels like a bit of a dangerous business. But I would say that, if we look at the way work is changing in the moment, right?

So, the upheavals in the nature of work, and the risks of insecure work, even among younger people in Singapore. I think this problem of homelessness may not fade away with time or even after the current cohort with older people. And this is worth stressing because sometimes, because just how sharp the trajectory or development has been at Singapore and the educational gains in successive cohorts over a fairly short period of time, we sometimes operate on the assumption that, problems will just work themselves out over time, right?

Because the younger cohorts have better education, better opportunities, and so on. But I think what has been going on around us in recent years, remind us not, not to, not to rely on that, that simple assumption. So if work continues to be a challenge, for future generations, then given what we have said about the connections between insecure work, poverty and homelessness, I think we should continue to be very vigilant, and try to do our best, to understand homelessness, and to improve, the services that cater to this population.