Homeless people look just like anyone else. Stereotypes about their appearance are not supported by research evidence from the street count. Many homeless people are working and have daily routines that are similar to other people, but they experience hardships due to their economic situations and insecure living arrangements. Far from posing a risk to public safety, they are often anxious about public complaints, enforcement action and even theft and harassment.

The street count recorded all persons already asleep or about to sleep in public places late at night. This is consistent with homelessness street counts conducted in other places. Interviews with some of the persons recorded in the count corroborated the reliability of this approach.

Homelessness is a complex social problem that often results from a breakdown in social support, economic disadvantage and barriers in the housing system. Singapore society is both wealthy and unequal. For the most economically vulnerable, who earn low wages and have little savings, home ownership may not be attainable. There are also problems with access and quality in the public rental housing system. Housing options are limited for this group when social support or employment is disrupted.

Across the homeless persons interviewed in our research, the underlying causes of housing insecurity were present long before the pandemic. Compared to the 2019 study, the number of homeless persons in 2021 – about a year after the circuit breaker ended – remained relatively stable, pointing to the persistence of housing problems.

In many parts of the world, the COVID-19 pandemic saw an increase in rates of homelessness because of growing unemployment, evictions and rising costs. That homelessness has not increased in Singapore shows what can be achieved with bureaucratic will and an active civil society. At the same time, the form of homelessness in Singapore is changing, from rough sleeping (ie primary homelessness) to living in temporary shelters (ie secondary homelessness). The study reminds us to be concerned about different forms of housing insecurity, not just rough sleeping.

The fall in street homeless figures might have resulted from a range of factors: the mobilisation of volunteers and frontline public agencies to reach out to rough sleepers and refer them to shelters during the circuit breaker in 2020; rough sleepers’ concern about their health; directives to stay indoors during the circuit breaker; and the expansion of shelter capacity. We need to learn more about what happens to people after they leave these shelters.

TThis suggests that the major drivers of housing insecurity in Singapore have not changed despite the disruptions of the pandemic in the last few years. Street homeless people in Singapore are mostly older men, who are over-represented among low-wage workers. They are more likely to be found in poorer neighbourhoods as poverty is a risk factor for housing displacement and homeless persons prefer to sleep in neighbourhoods where they used to live.

We found that women were far less likely to resort to rough sleeping because of concerns about safety. Instead of rough sleeping, women who had lost their housing were more likely to rely on their social support networks for housing options. When the pandemic disrupted already unstable housing arrangements, women typically sought immediate help from government agencies and social services, instead of sleeping outside.

Most homeless people do not own housing. The small fraction who have housing in their names no longer have access to their housing, often because of a breakdown in family or co-tenant relationships. Notions that most homeless people are in fact homeowners who choose to sleep in public places out of personal preference, and can simply return home if they wanted to, have no basis in research evidence.

Notwithstanding differences in count methods, the prevalence of homelessness in Singapore is lower than in South Korea but comparable to Hong Kong. Homelessness is of a solvable scale in Singapore, provided there is interest and will. It also sheds light on the broader issue of housing insecurity in our society, so understanding it can inform policy improvements.

As citizens, we can take an interest in the factors that contribute to homelessness and lend support to initiatives to improve policies in areas such as public rental housing and wage protection. Community leaders and residents can help by avoiding the use of hostile architecture that simply displace homeless persons to another neighbourhood. Employers can make sure workers are paid adequately to meet their basic needs.

Research ethics do not allow the sharing of data on the locations of homeless people we met during the study. This is out of consideration for their privacy and safety. Revealing their locations may expose them to enforcement action. People who wish to volunteer as befrienders may approach organisations such as Catholic Welfare Services.

Outreach services and shelter capacity have grown in recent years. The next steps are to address housing barriers and economic precarity. Internationally, the most successful strategies involve good quality housing options and effective poverty interventions. In Singapore’s context, this means improving the availability, accessibility and standards of public housing for poorer people, and strengthening wage protection.

This project shows the importance of independent academic research for helping us to understand social issues that are hidden or taboo, and to work towards solutions. Sustaining such research will require resources and public interest.

The second street count took place during an opportune period after the lifting of the circuit breaker in mid-2020 and before the introduction of another round of public health restrictions in mid-2021 known as Heightened Alert. To assess if the situation on the ground might have changed in unanticipated ways due to earlier space closures, the team conducted counts in a small number of zones at the start of the study before the fieldworkers were deployed. As social distancing requirements reduced the training venue capacity, the fieldworkers had to be spaced out over more training sessions. Other than this, research operations were not affected by the pandemic.

Street counts of homelessness should be carried out every few years to provide timely guidance for policy and service planning. This implies that responsibility for these counts must one day pass to public agencies. Any street count led by the state needs to meet high standards of rigour, independence and transparency. This way, research can continue to play a key role to shore up increased public awareness of housing insecurity and encourage change in Singapore.