By Tsai Ssu-pei, Chiu Chih-jou and Jake Chung / Staff reporters, with staff writer
Civic groups last week urged government to help get more homeless people off the streets as the COVID-19 pandemic affected eateries, leading to a 42 percent decrease in the number of homeless hired as part-time workers in the tertiary sector compared with 2019.
There were 13,238 homeless people working in 2019, but only 7,670 were working last year, Ministry of Health and Welfare data showed.
The ministry said this was due to businesses temporarily suspending their operations or downsizing, resulting in less demand during the pandemic.
Photo: Taipei Times
Last year, 35 percent of homeless people in Taipei lived on the streets because they had lost their job or were unable to pay rent, 18 percent did so due to health issues, while 16.5 percent were on had no home because of discord in the family, data from the Taipei City Government’s Department of Social Welfare showed.
The data showed that 76.6 percent of homeless people lived in the six special municipalities last year, with Taipei recording the highest number of homeless people.
Regarding income, 51.4 percent had part-time jobs, 27.3 percent received charity and 20.9 percent received welfare subsidies, the data showed
More than 70 percent of the part-time jobs homeless people had last year involved menial labor, such as newspaper deliveries, cleaning or standing on curbs holding advertisements for real-estate agencies.
Most homeless employees often work menial jobs and were often the first to be dismissed during the pandemic, Homeless Taiwan Association secretary-general Lee Ying-tzu (???) said.
She said the government should relax the definition of employment and make work hours more flexible for people without homes.
“Even if they were to work for half a day, or only four hours a day, they would make NT$500, which could help them feed themselves,” she said.
Most homeless people have little to no education and many jobs require degrees, Lee said.
Many of those who employ part-time staffers overlook the health issues people without housing might have, which could prevent them from meeting expectations, she said.
Employers should have more patience with homeless people and give them more time to become accustomed to the job, she added.
Civic groups also said that only 5 percent of people without homes in Taipei are registered as low-to-middle-income individuals.
Do You A Flavor founder Wu Yen-te (???) said that most homeless people are not lazy, but are caught in a vicious cycle: They have no home and so are discriminated against by employers, meaning they are unable to find work and have no funds to find shelter.
Housing prices are a public concern, but very few people pay equal attention to whether rental prices are reasonable or affordable, he added.
“Being homeless on the streets isn’t bad, but the worst thing is that you seem invisible on the crowded streets,” Wu quoted a homeless person as saying.
Each homeless person has a story, and often, just being there, listening to them, offering a smile and a simple “How are you doing?” can bring greater warmth than material aid, he said.
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