90 per cent of the

homeless are Malaysians

with jobs
Tan Su Lin, Astro Awani | July 05, 2014 08:41 MYT

-filepic
KUALA LUMPUR: Only 10 percent of homeless persons on the streets of
Kuala Lumpur are non-Malaysians.

This means 90 percent of them are in fact locals.

According to Reach Out Malaysia president and founder, Pete Nicholl, the
demographics of those sleeping on the streets directly correspond with the
demographics of the nation in terms of race, religion and ethnic background.

The local charitable organisation has been operating in Kuala Lumpur and
Klang since 2008.

"There is a misconception that the people on the streets are foreigners, drug
addicts, criminals and Mat Rempits", he said in an interview with Astro AWANI.

"However, based on our experience, less than one percent of people we serve
everyday are in fact non-Malaysians or those with drug or alcohol issues. That
means out of the 13,000 people we serve each month, less than one percent
are actually foreigners," Nicoll added.
Nicoll also disagreed that food given out free is creating the homeless issue.

He argued that the free food had acted as a tool to find out who the street
people are, what skills they have and what is needed for them to be able to
reintegrate back into society.

"We need to understand majority of them are actually working. The issue is
they do not have enough diposable income to even afford a room. Most do not
come from Kuala Lumpur, they are from all over the country such as Perlis,
Kedah, Terengganu, Melaka and Johor," he said.

"They come here to find work but do not have enough education qualification
to find high paying job so they take up low-income jobs," he added.

He said some are also left homeless because of errant employers who
absconded, closed down their factories or have not paid salaries to their
employees for up to four months, leaving them with no choice but to sleep in
the streets.

He said a comprehensive support system is crucial to eradicate urban poverty

and to ensure that lesser people end up homeless.

He said many countries have successful models in dealing with poverty,

including proper social welfare as part of the nation policy to help those in
distress.

Norway for example, has a social charter with its people that says no one will
be poor.

"If someone loses their job, the government will step in and provide financial
and other means of support to the person to find employment. That keeps the
person going and also ensures that houses are not repossesed," said Nicoll.

He said the United Kingdom has severe poverty problems from austerity cuts
made by their government due to deficit.

However, their social welfare system provides financial benefit to those

unemployed and seeking for jobs. They also have job centers all over the
country for people seeking employment.
"The job seeker is given an allowance for a period of time but you must go to
the job centers, register and be interviewed. After some period of time, if you
do not take up the work or go for interview arranged or find employment, then
the benefit will stop," he said.

He cited the United States as an example, where as part of the state

government's mandate on social welfare, city councillors are directed to
provide accommodation purely for the homeless. The rents and utility bills are
free, with the housing the local council providing counsellors for the homeless
to help reintergrate them back into society.
While some countries are trying help the poor to come off the streets, in
Canada, the Vancouver city councillors implemented foldable shelters on
benches in the city.

"If it rains or the weather is too hot, they can use the foldable shelther and sit
under the shade. That is the humanitarian effort to assist those people," said
Nicoll.

Back at home, Reach Out Malaysia hopes to eradicate poverty in Malaysia,

state by state, city by city.

Considered to be 'The Frontline in the Fight To Eradicate Poverty, they hope

to bring dignity back to the forgotten who inhabit the streets and doorways of
Kuala Lumpur.

In the last two years, they had managed to reintegrate 402 urban poor into
employment by working with the corporate sector in Malaysia.

70 were assisted to return to their states of birth.

Shelters for homeless a good start,
say NGOs
BY AIZYL AZLEE AND KRISTINA GEORGE

PETALING JAYA, Nov 30 Issues that cause homelessness vary greatly between
individuals but building more shelters would be a good start, said Hadi Khalid,
coordinator of soup kitchen Dapur Jalanan.

The authorities are looking into this problem in terms of image and cleanliness, he
said.

They dont want people living on the streets. It goes back to creating shelters, and
concerned citizens can volunteer to help out with the various needs of the homeless.

He said statistics from 2010 showed there were 1,646 homeless people in Kuala
Lumpur and he does not think the number has decreased.

Every one falls on hard times, and ending up homeless is the extreme end of the
spectrum, he added.

If one person gets off the streets, there will be another person who will take his place. If
we view Kuala Lumpur as a modern city on par with major cities around the world, we
must have our own shelters.

Pertiwi Soup Kitchen founder Munirah Abdul Hamid pointed out that not all homeless
people were jobless, and the organisation was trying to help them with job placements.

A common starting point for many of the homeless is that they come from rural towns
looking for a better life here. They come to KL and find out it is not easy to find a job
without the right level of education and end up with low-paying jobs without being able to
afford rent for a room, she said.

We try to provide help for those with jobs by washing their clothes and keeping them
presentable.
Based on her observations, she commented vagrants are a largely ageing population,
with many of them being homeless for decades.

Those are the ones that are difficult to help. It is not as easy as simply building a
shelter. Once you have the shelter, you need to decide on the kind of programmes that
need to be organised and what measures need to be taken, she said.

The Nasi Lemak Project founder Mastura Mohd Rashid said among the reasons for
homelessness were old age, unemployment, drug addiction and family problems.

Mastura said that while there may not be enough shelters, the general public should
really consider creating more job opportunities for the community.

Earlier this year, Kuala Lumpur City Hall announced it would convert two locations in the
city into centres for NGOs to provide for the homeless. One is a converted former hotel
in Chow Kit and the other was recently announced to be on Jalan Pahang.