Many see Taipei as a metropolis where opportunity and prosperity go hand-in-hand. But beneath the facade of glitzy shopping malls, multiplex cinemas and bright neon billboards, there lays a side of the city that those with jobs, cash to burn and a roof over their heads are all too often unaware of.
For people like 54-year-old Chao (趙), the city's streets aren't paved with gold. They are instead places of opportunity. Street-side garbage cans provide food, parks and underpasses offer shelter and swanky store windows act like television screens, offering views of a prosperous world that they cannot enjoy or be a part of.
Originally from Shulin, Taipei County, Chao lost his home and his job after a traffic accident left him partially paralyzed in his right leg. His sole possessions at present are a pair of canvas sneakers, a pair of polyester pants, a casual lightweight shirt and a woolen cardigan.
PHOTO COURTESY OF RICK KAN, CCRA
Since his arrival in Taipei four years ago, Chao has lived in parks, slept under expressways and called doorways of disused and rundown buildings home.
"I came to Taipei to look for work, but look at me. I'm an old man with a limp, which in most people's eyes means that I'm a cripple who's too old to work," said Chao.
"I have no home and no family. I have no choice but to live on the streets."
According to the Taipei City Government's most recent survey, there are between 500 and 600 homeless people in Taipei, and nationally, there are an estimated 3,000 homeless people. Both sets of figures are only estimates and are based solely on the numbers of those who register with one of the religious charities who feed and clothe the homeless or those who have come forward when the city government has undertaken one of its surveys.
"The numbers are never really accurate. They rely on those who come forward and not all want to come forward and admit to anyone that they are homeless, as they consider their situation shameful and are embarrassed about it," said Nick Kan (甘燿嘉) of the Chinese Christian Evangelistic Association (中華基督教福音協會).
Most of Taipei's homeless range from 40 to 60 years old, and 80 percent of them, like Chao, live, or have lived in the districts of Wanhua, Chungcheng, Datong and Chungshan.
With the mercury dropping to all-time lows, the most poplar place to sleep at present is the Taipei Train Station's underground car park.
From late evening until early morning sections of the car park are transformed into makeshift dorms. Sleeping bags are spread on top of cardboard, large boxes are used to create private enclaves and what few possessions the homeless who choose to live in the subterranean parking space have are kept very close at hand.
Although Chao hasn't been on the street as long as some of those who turn up at Taipei Train Station on Wednesday and Thursday evenings to receive a free lunchbox from the Taiwan chapter of the Salvation Army (
"The faces are different, but the stories are the same," said Salvation Army's Peter Lee (
Younger and younger
The numbers of homeless in Taipei may seem insignificant in comparison the to those of cities such as Tokyo and London. But, over the past decade, the demographics of Taipei's homeless have taken, what some consider to be, an alarming turn. Whereas a decade ago, a majority of the homeless were uneducated and of retirement age, charities are finding that an increasing number of today's homeless are aged from 20 to 35 years old.
"The types of people you encounter living on the streets has changed over the years. A majority are still single, middle-aged men with no families. But I have encountered 30-year-olds and even a 20-year-old university graduate," said Jocelyn Chai (柴中鳳) of the Chinese Christian Relief Association (中華基督教救助協會).
While Taiwan is not a welfare state, homeless people are entitled to health insurance. Any one of the dozen public hospitals located within the Taipei City environs must accept homeless people and all fees are reimbursed by the city. Over the past several years, the Taipei City Government Department of Social Welfare (台北市政府社會局) has tried to issue health insurance cards to all of the city's homeless.
"Any homeless person can register at a hospital and health insurance cards are issued to them free of charge," said the Social Welfare Department's Yang Liou-chi (楊柳錡).
"Obviously, we do our best to ensure that as many of the homeless as possible are able to visit hospitals and see doctors. When we find those with severe illnesses or those who are mentally ill, we ensure that a place is found for them in a hospital or clinic."
Basic care
Along with offering free health care, the department also organizes special medical checkups three times a year and oversees two shelters, where, for a short period of time, Taipei's homeless can get a bed, three square meals a day and earn a little money doing simple jobs.
Both the House of Peace (
There, the homeless can exchange their old cloths for new ones, receive bedding and wash. The centers also offer sleeping bags and instant noodles to those who wish to remain sleeping outdoors.
As the sole city-center shelter, the House of Peace has three floors of dorms and can house up to 54 people. It has a television room, activity room, showers and facilities to wash clothes.
The city government pays roughly 80 percent of the funds used by the shelter and donates NT$350 per day per resident for up to 35 of the center's guests. If more than 35 are present at any given time, the center itself must foot the additional expenses. The government's money does not go directly to the individual, but is instead used by the center to purchase food and other necessities.
Although run by the Catholic Church, the shelter is open to all denominations and doesn't pursue a policy of conversion. Those who choose to stay for short periods of time do, however, have to get used to a certain amount of regimentation.
"We don't allow drinking on the premises and will refuse to admit anybody who is either drunk or who we consider to be a risk to others. They have to get out of bed at eight in the morning and clean their dorm. They must go to their dorms at ten in the evening," said Ou Chi-hwa (
"It's regimented for their own good, rather than for any other reason," Ou said.
The larger center in Chungho can house 70 and is partially overseen by the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation (
"First, we want to see them feeling good about themselves, so we give them new clothes. Secondly we try to help them readjust to society. We hold lectures and invite artists and musicians along to talk to them and try to teach them about self expression," said Thomas Huang (黃秋良) of the Tzu Chi Foundation.
Easy prey
Crime among Taipei's homeless is quite low and apart from being arrested on drunk and disorderly charges, very few, according Kan, are criminals. That's not to say they don't fall prey to criminal elements.
The homeless are often persuaded to sell their identification cards for as little as NT$1,000. These cards are then used to open dummy bank accounts by credit card fraudsters. And it's not only fraud that homeless people inadvertently find themselves caught up in.
It's not uncommon for sold or stolen IDs to be used for the trafficking of prostitutes from Southeast Asia and China to Taiwan. The going rate for the use of ID cards to fake marriages is considerably more NT$1,000 and can enable a homeless person to earn anywhere from NT$6,000 to NT$40,000.
"I know one man who has been to China twice and Indonesia once to participate in fake and arranged marriages that have enabled gangsters to bring women into Taiwan," Ou said.
According to Chao, he has never partaken in such scams, but has been a victim of wanton violence at the hands of both gangsters and juvenile delinquents on more than one occasion.
"They've beaten me up, stolen my sleeping bag and taken everything I had several times," he said.
"There was no point to it. I'm not a threat to anyone, they did it for fun."
Chao will remain at the House of Peace for the next few days, but he knows that his temporary respite from the cold winter chill will come to an end sooner rather than later. The center will need his bed and he will once again have to call the streets of the capital home.
"I'll be back out there in a week or two," said the shy and despondent homeless man, pointing out of the center's window.
"This year will be no different to last year or the year before that."
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