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1701421H JOLENE SOH 1706941J ERIKA WONG
the lack of efforts towards aiding the homeless
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jolene. Jolene Soh is currently a second year student at Temasek Polytechnic pursuing Communication Design. She is proficient at Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Lightroom and After Effects. Thus far, she knows basic French and Malay aside from being fluent in English and Chinese. In her free time, she loves to read and watching movies. She practices photography as a hobby and occasionally posts her illustrations and art on social media site, Tumblr.
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erika. Born and raised in Singapore, Erika Wong is a second year Communication Design student studying at Temasek Polytechnic. She is proficient at applications such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Lightroom, and Aftereffects. Since young, she has had an interest in art, freely experimenting with drawing, painting, and music. In her free time, she does photography, reads books, and watches dramas. She also plays frisbee and does rock climbing at leisure.
PROFILES
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abstract This report explores the lack of efforts towards aiding the homeless in Singapore. By examining homelessness in a local context, we determine what impairs the public from aiding the homeless and its resulting negative consequences. Data for this research has been collected from interviews and surveys conducted; other resources include online articles and published reports. Conclusively, the collected findings brought to light the overall lack of awareness from the public, as well as the negative perceptions towards the homeless. These insights provide the basis for a possible solution that might alleviate the lack of aid from fellow countrymen.
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TITLE
the lack of efforts towards aiding the homeless.
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contents Profiles
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Abstract
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Introduction
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Definition of homelessness
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Research Data
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Interviews
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Surveys
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Lack of exposure
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Negative stereotypes
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Scepticism
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Lack of publicity for organizations aiding homelessness
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Ineffective sought of help
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Existing solutions & their limitations
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Our solution
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Conclusion
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References
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introduction Singapore—a nation of homeowners, with a home ownership rate of 90.9% (Department of Statistics, 2017), it can be assumed that this basic need of security and shelter has already been met, yet homelessness still exists. Findings from volunteer groups and organisations brought forth numbers of homelessness that cannot be disregarded. In 2017, SW101— social work and services group, surveyed 25 locations island wide and reported at least 180 persons, and another 29 who did not want to say they were sleeping in public (Paulo & Goh, 2017). This reflects that the magnitude of homelessness could be greater than it appears to be. Homelessness exists in plain sight, yet this socio-economic issue remains under the radar of many Singaporeans. With the public ignorant or in denial that such an issue could exist in their affluent city, homelessness remains at large. A survey done by the authors of this research paper showed that 66.3% of people do not provide aid to the homeless. It is a concern that homelessness is present everywhere, yet action to alleviate the problem is hard to come by. Are Singaporeans simply apathetic, or is there more to the lack of efforts towards aiding the homeless? This research paper presents three main causes of the lack of efforts towards aiding the homeless, the negative resulting effects of them, and possible solutions to this issue.
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definition of homeless According to the European Typology on Homelessness and Housing Exclusion (ETHOS, for short), developed by the European Federation of National Organizations Working with the Homeless (FEANTSA), homelessness can be categorised into four main categories: roofless, houseless, insecure accommodation, and inadequate accommodation (ETHOS, 2005). The four categories can be further defined by three domains: physical, social, and legal. The physical domain refers to one’s ability to have satisfactory space and living standards, such as sanitary facilities and heating. The social domain regards how one is able to enjoy privacy and personal space, as well as room for social interactions. Lastly, the legal domain deals with one’s legal right to the space (ETHOS, 2012). The four categories of homelessness and three domains of a home come together as a framework as seen in Figure 1 to define homelessness with a common "language" for transnational exchanges on the issue (FEANTSA, 2005).
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Figure 1. The Logos of ETHOS (Modified) (FEANTSA, 2012, p. 232)
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interview To better understand homelessness in Singapore’s context; uninfluenced by possible biased second-hand reports from secondary resources, the authors joined a volunteer group called Homeless Hearts of Singapore on one of their fortnightly outreaches to offer food and several necessities, as well as comfort in form of company. The authors also approached several regular volunteers to interview them.
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WHAT IS YOUR OPINION ON HOMELESS PEOPLE? “I honestly think it differs from case to case, from person to person. Some are obviously more likeable than others. But it’s always better to understand first, and then judge later.”
HOW DO YOU USUALLY TELL IF SOMEONE IS HOMELESS? “We know some hotspots that usually are where they take shelter. Like Chinatown, for example. Especially around 10pm, when you see people settling down in that area, taking out their barang-barang, sitting or lying on the floor...”
WHAT DO YOU TALK TO HOMELESS PEOPLE ABOUT? “Life, I guess. Anything. One of their biggest problems is that they’re lonely, so providing comfort to them in form of simply keeping them company is what we do. We listen to their stories, make them feel heard...”
FROM WHAT YOU KNOW, WHAT ARE ARE SOME CAUSES OF HOMELESSNESS? “Mostly financial issues. Maybe, rental? Others have family issues too, so they don’t want to be at home.”
WHAT’S YOUR GOAL WITH THESE OUTREACHES? “Taking food and basic necessities to them isn’t our aim. Sure, alleviates their sufferings a bit, but mostly, we want to build friendships with them so they’re not alone, as well as help them find long-term solutions.”
HOW OFTEN DO PEOPLE USUALLY CONTACT YOU TO JOIN YOUR OUTREACHES? “Outreaches are held once every two weeks. At least one new person joins each time on average, though the total number of volunteers each session differs. There are 70 people in our main group in total, but not everyone goes all the time. Depending on how many people there are, we’d ideally split into three groups. Two, going to separate locations in Chinatown, and one, in Bras Basah area.”
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survey The authors of this research paper held a survey, with 101 respondents in total, to find out the public’s awareness about homelessness, as well as their perceptions and attitudes about the issue. All data from figures in this section and subsequent sections are derived from said survey conducted by the authors unless stated otherwise. Figures 2 and 3 illustrate the demographics of survey respondents. About half of the respondents were aged 25 and below, and almost a quarter were 46 and above. A slight majority of respondents were female.
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Figure 2. Ages of respondents
Figure 3. Ages of respondents
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lack of exposure
Figure 4. Percentage of people who are aware homelessness is an issue in Singapore
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Firstly, the lack of efforts towards aiding the homeless owes to the fact that people are simply unaware of homelessness being a problem in Singapore. The lack of awareness breeds from the unavailability of resources and education such as campaigns, news and governmental reports etc. that put homelessness into perspective. One major factor that leads to the scarcity of informative and reliable resources that shed light on said issue is censorship. Although Singapore enjoys a free flow of information, with over 5,000 local and foreign newspapers and periodicals in circulation (MICA, 2017), control over content in media might have been a possible cause of the public not seeing the entirety of homelessness, but rather just parts of what the media wants or can show. Since 1974, the Newspaper and Printing Presses Act (NPPA) was passed and the broad provisions of the NPPA allowed the Government to exercise some control over the content of the publications (National Archives of Singapore, n.d.). And even though the NPPA
helps to ensure that the media operating in Singapore plays a responsible role such that social cohesion will not be affected, true figures and facts about controversial or sensitive issues like homelessness and poverty end up curated or sugarcoated by mainstream media. However, as people are deprived of exposure to homelessness as an area of concern, there is an overall effect of ignorance and lack of awareness amongst the public in Singapore. As Figure 4 shows, 47.5% of people do not know that homelessness is an issue in Singapore. With a close 50%, the absence of knowledge about the existence of homelessness is significant.
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negative perceptions
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The second cause of the lack of aid towards homelessness would be the negative perceptions about the homeless. This includes stigmatization, stereotypes or preconceived notions that people have despite having no interaction or experiences with the homeless themselves.
poverty and “ugliness� to behavioural traits of laziness, lack of stewardship of one’s life and dependency, in which they are relying on the public to provide food and monetary aid. However, unlike common beliefs, most of the homeless do make the effort to provide for themselves.
According to Hopper (Deforge, 2012), the homeless are often ascribed negative characteristics such as disaffiliated individuals who are rootless and isolated with no sense of responsibility, no ties to work, family, and community; or that of a social signifier that symbolizes the negative and disordered in society. In fact, it is said that the stigma that the homeless receive is even greater than that of poverty because homelessness is more visible to the public and more disruptive than other forms of poverty (Phelan, et aI., 1997).
One major stereotype that people have about the homeless in Singapore is that homeless people do not have jobs. SW101, as aforementioned, surveyed homeless people, and findings were that 6 in 10 of those who answered the survey were employed. In fact, of this group, nearly 60 percent were working full-time, while about 40 per cent were holding part-time or casual jobs (Paulo & Goh, 2017). Such misconception is evidence that negative perceptions could be untrue assumptions, and it is unfortunate that these untruths could influence other people to view homelessness the same way, therefore contributing to a cycle of negativity leading to the continued lack of efforts towards aiding the homeless.
Because of the difficulties involved in cleaning and grooming themselves, many homeless people may be aesthetically unappealing (Phelan, et aI., 1997), having old or dirty clothes and an overall unkempt appearance. People tend to associate such
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scepticism
Figure 5. Top causes od homelessnessness as rated by public
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With stereotypes and stigmas about the homeless in place, negative perceptions are preventing people from providing aid. This comes with the resulting effect of skepticism, in which people raise the question— “Why should I help the homeless?�. People are skeptical about the the homeless deserving help, with the belief that homelessness is either self-inflicted or selfsustained. Generally, society focuses on the individual as the cause of his or her own state of homelessness, blaming the victim rather than focusing on the larger social and economic forces (Belcher & Deforge, 2012). For example, lack of affordable housing, family breakdowns, poverty etc. Focus on homelessness as an effect of self-infliction proves to be true, as seen in Figure 5, where the highest rated cause of homelessness (as rated by the public) is drugs or alcohol abuse, which can be conveniently be used as a device to blame victims of homelessness for their plight (Belcher & Deforge, 2012).
Additionally, as mentioned in the previous section, the homeless are perceived as lazy, jobless people, and dependent on aid from the public. This contributes to skepticism as people are apprehensive about helping the homeless who make no efforts to pull themselves out of poverty. However, people fail to see that many of the homeless have lower skills and lower education, therefore ending up in unstable, lowpaying work which results in housing instability, albeit having a job (Paulo & Goh, 2017). The most common occupations of the homeless were cleaners and security guards.
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lack of publicity The second cause of the lack of efforts towards aiding the homeless is the lack of publicity for organisations that aid homelessness. With access to resources and connections, Voluntary Welfare Organisations (VWOs) are well positioned to provide aid to the homeless; lack of publicity however, have led to lower levels of awareness from the public for their efforts. Presently, VWOs dedicated to aiding the homeless in Singapore are few and far between. However, as few
as they already are, such organisations are overshadowed by other better known causes and their aid, such as those for AIDS, cancer, mental disabilities, among others. As a result, people are uninformed about the efforts and purpose of local organisations aiding homelessness and this is reflected in conflicting perspectives of the public about local efforts. Figure 6 states that 69.3%, a slight majority of the public rated that some effort is taken by local groups in dealing with homelessness, while a mere 7.9% of people rated that a lot of effort was taken.
Figure 6. Ratings of local efforts aiding the homeless
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However, as seen in Figure 7, when asked if they knew of any organizations that aided homelessness, 77.2% of people were unaware of any and 12.9% gave invalid answers— a total of 90.1% who were not able to state any organisations. This is contradictory because while people generally feel that local efforts towards aiding the homeless are adequate, they do not actually know who or what anyone is doing to help.
Figure 7. Awareness about organisations
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ineffective sought of help
Figure 8. Top causes od homelessnessness as rated by public
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Organisations such as charities, shelters and volunteer groups require staff and manpower to execute aiding programmes for the homeless such as volunteer outreaches and food distributions. But with the lack of publicity for organizations as aforementioned, ineffective sought of help is consequential. As presented in Figure 8, 55.4% of people do not provide aid to the homeless, but would like to. When put into perspective with the low levels of awareness about organisations due to the lack of publicity, it can be derived that people do not provide aid because they do not know where to go or how to help.
Singapore Management University (SMU) conducted a survey of 48 for profit and nonprofit organisations that address social needs and 84% indicated that they had difficulty recruiting skilled staff and that 60% felt that the level of individual giving remained low in Singapore (Low, 2018). Therefore, while organisations are purposed with aiding and at the same time, recruiting or encouraging people to provide aid, organisations in Singapore for the homeless are not able to fulfil this purpose effectively without the added aid and support of the public.
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existing solutions & limitations
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In terms of solving the obvious problem, not having a place of residence, the homeless are given the option of the Joint Singles Scheme offered by the government. According to the Housing Development Board (HDB), those under the scheme can apply for a 2-room Flexi flat in a non-mature estate; to be shared with another applicant. However, the scheme glosses over the differences the two singles might have, which often results in conflicts and one of the tenants moving out (Fang, 2017). A more temporary solution is to help the homeless get by, through provisions of financial aid and food from time to time; typically from the government and religious institutions (eg. churches, temples, mosques etc.). One major limitation is that food aid is only available once per week, and the homeless would still be hungry on other days or if they are lucky, volunteer groups would drop by to distribute food. Financial aid are often insufficient too, as an elderly homeless stated that he receives $120 per month for CPF and $150 per month from a local church.
However as Belcher and Tice says, research has demonstrated that the issue of homelessness is not that simple (cited by Belcher & Deforge, 2011). Homelessness is not only a matter of economic stability and home ownership but also emotional security. An elderly homeless man shared in an interview that he was fine with how he was living, as long as his basic needs were met, and that sometimes, what he required more was company. He thanked volunteers for accompanying him and having conversations with him.
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proposed solution A possible solution that addresses the issue of negative stereotypes and lack of awareness of organizations, as well as overall lack of aid for the homeless is an online platform that can easily connect people to welfare organizations and volunteer outreach groups, as well as different avenues to help the homeless. This platform is named ‘Home For A Heart’.
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Figure 9. Hompeage of ‘Home For A Heart’
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Figure 10. About page of ‘Home For A Heart’
Home For A Heart is a non-profit platform dedicated to aiding the homeless and inspiring people people to offer their help. It serves as a one stop place that connects people with welfare organisations and volunteer groups.
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This online platform provides people with , as a forementioned, a one stop place to get involved in aiding the homeless. The ‘get involved’ section of the website houses three main pages— ’donate’, ‘volunteer’ and ‘recycle your clothes’. As seen on the donate page shown in Figure 11, the website allows people to filter organisations and projects by categories of charities and campaigns. Each organisation or project will be displayed with a progress bar which states the quota they wish to meet. People may click on the ‘learn more’ button to find out more about each organisation and their projects or activities.
Figure 11. Donate page of ‘Home For A Heart’
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Figure 12. Volunteer page of ‘Home For A Heart’
Similarly, the volunteer page allows people to filter projects to categories of ad hoc volunteering and regular volunteering. Results displayed will show the number of openings dates, times and locations for each project.
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Home For A Heart also features a clothes donation project in which donated clothes will be distributed to the homeless through outreaches. People can drop off their clothes of reasonable condition at any of the partnered retail outlets such as H&M, Cotton On, Forever 21 to receive gift vouchers.
Figure 13. Recycle project page of ‘Home For A Heart’
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Figure 14. ‘Unsheltered’ game landing page
Figure 13. How to play ‘Unsheltered’
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Another feature about the website is ‘Unsheltered’— a game which simulates real life scenarios that the homeless in Singapore face. Players are challenged to survive thirty one days unsheltered. The gameplay will require players to maintain basic needs namely money, health and hygiene. Each virtual day, they will be met with five situations in which they will have to make choices. Depending on the choice they make, the fufilment of needs will be affected. Players will lose the game if fufilment of needs get depleted. Conclusively, the online platform addresses the lack of awareness about organisations aiding homelessness by being a convenient source for people to seek out volunteer and donation opportunities by organisations. The volunteering opportunities also serves as an avenue to provide the human connection and support that the homeless needs. The game provides people with a different perspective of homelessness in hopes of dispelling negative perceptions and stereotypes about the homeless.
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conclusion Through the explorations done by the authors, it is found that people tend to neglect or overlook the existence of homelessness in society. The lack of awareness about homelessness, its reality, and its needs have caused a void of empathy and understanding for the homeless. Eventually, this boils down to the lack of efforts to aid the homeless and if action is not taken, homelessness will be sustained for years to come. One thing learnt is that the homeless are not just poor in resources, but also in relationships. Some elderly homeless shared that if there was one thing they learnt from being homeless, it was that they could be offered all the food and shelter they could need, but if they were not happy, they could not be content with what was offered. Hence, while looking for ways to aid the homeless, one should take that into consideration, instead of seeking to just solve the problem economically.
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references Belcher, J. R., & Deforge, B., B. G., (2012). Social Stigma and Homelessness: The Limits of Social Change. Journal of Human Behaviour in the Social Environment, 22(8), 929-946. https://doi.org/10.1080/10911359.2012.707941 Department Of Statistics. (2017). Population Trends 2017. Retrieved from https:// www.singstat.gov.sg/-/media/files/publications/population/population2017.pdf Fang, X. W., (2017, October 13). Relook Joint Singles Scheme for rental flats. The Straits Times [Singapore]. https://www.straitstimes.com/ FEANTSA. (2005). ETHOS Typology on Homelessness and Housing Exclusion. Retrieved from https://www.feantsa.org/en/toolkit/2005/04/01/ethos-typologyon-homelessness-and-housing-exclusion FEANTSA. (2017). European Typology of Homelessness and Housing Exclusion. Retrieved from https://www.feantsa.org/download/ethos2484215748748239888. pdf Housing and Development Board. (2017). Estimated Singapore Resident Population in HDB Flats. Retrieved August 16, 2018, from https://data.gov.sg/ dataset/estimated-resident-population-living-in-hdb-flats National Archives of Singapore. (n.d. ). Maintaining Social Harmony - Managing The Media Environment. Retrieved from http://www.nas.gov.sg/archivesonline/ policy_history/media-environment Paulo, D. A., & Goh, C. T., (2017, October 7). Homeless stereotypes busted: Most hold jobs, have been destitute for over a year. Channel NewsAsia [Singapore]. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/ Phelan, J., Link, B. G., Moore, R. E., & Stueve, A. (1997). The Stigma of Homelessness: The Impact of the Label “Homeless� on Attitudes Toward Poor Persons. Social Psychology Quarterly, 60(4), 323. https://doi.org/10.2307/2787093 Sahlin, I. (2012). The Logos of ETHOS. European Journal of Homelessness, 6(2), 232. https://www.feantsa.org/download/ejh6_2_resp_ ethosdef21202296260998435422.pdf
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