Removing obstacles to employment for homeless people should take priority over requiring them to be in stable employment, National Taiwan University social work professor Cheng Li-chen (鄭麗珍) said yesterday at a conference discussing the services provided for and needed by homeless people, adding that policies that actively reach out to and reintegrate groups into communities are important.
There are currently between 3,000 and 4,000 homeless people in Taiwan, but because the legal definition for homelessness is hazy and determined on a city or county basis, with some local authorities considering people with living relatives not to be homeless, the number is probably an underestimation, Cheng said.
“Compared with the complete special acts dedicated to matters concerning homeless people in Japan and South Korea, the nation’s regulations concerning homeless people is a single article under the Public Assistance Act [社會救助法]” that allows for the municipality, county or city competent authorities to specify the regulations for the shelter and assistance of homeless people, he said.
According to Cheng’s survey, most of the homeless people in the country are male and aged above 45, with the age group from 55 to 64 being the largest.
Seventy-four percent of the respondents said they live on the street and more than half of them had done so for more than three years, “two facts indicating that Taiwanese homeless are long-term street people,” Cheng said.
“A majority of those who have lived in shelters are not willing to go back, complaining about their strict rules and the remoteness of the locations,” Cheng said, adding that as they have problem finding non-temporary jobs, renting a place is almost out of question without social benefits.
Cheng also said that more than half of the respondents said that they had served at least one term in prison.
“This raises the issue of how former convicts can be assisted to obtain long-term employment and return to community life,” he said.
Obstacles to employment for homeless people include the inability to open a bank account, as many of them have a poor credit history and no registered residential address, Cheng said.
Shortening the time people live on the street, helping homeless people overcome obstacles to employment and having the group, including former convicts, interact with and return to the community all require the person to have residential details, Cheng said, adding that the government should develop social residence programs that are tailored to their needs.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is aware that Beijing’s treatment of Hong Kong has weakened any possible sentiment for a “one country, two systems” arrangement for Taiwan, and has instructed Chinese Communist Party (CCP) politburo member Wang Huning (王滬寧) to develop new ways of defining cross-strait relations, Japanese news magazine Nikkei Asia reported on Thursday. A former professor of international politics at Fu Dan University, Wang is expected to develop a dialogue that could serve as the foundation for cross-strait unification, and Xi plans to use the framework to support a fourth term as president, Nikkei Asia quoted an anonymous source
Two Taiwanese Americans were among those killed in a mass shooting at a dance studio in Monterey Park, California, on Saturday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Monday. The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Los Angeles (TECO LA) said it contacted local authorities, who confirmed that two of the 11 killed in the shooting were Taiwanese Americans. “TECO LA conveys our heartfelt condolences to the victims and their families, and sends our prayers to the injured for a speedy recovery,” it said in a statement. The office said it is assisting the relatives of one of the victims to travel from
A senior US senator on Monday questioned the willingness of some US allies to help defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion. Although Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) expects the US and Japan to respond in a war in the Taiwan Strait, he was “a little less confident what our other allies would do,” US Senator John Cornyn said. Australia and New Zealand have voiced support for Taiwan, but it “is a far cry from committing troops to repel an invasion,” Cornyn said during a discussion on China, Russia and the state of US military readiness at a forum hosted
TOURISM BOOST: The transportation system could help attract more visitors to the area, as the line is to connect multiple cultural sites, a city councilor said Residents in New Taipei City’s Ankeng District (安坑) said the local light rail system might have a positive influence, but raised questions about its practicality. The Ankeng light rail system, which is to commence operations after the Lunar New Year holiday, would cut travel time for commuters from Ankeng to downtown Taipei or New Taipei City by 15 to 20 minutes, the city government said. According to the initial plan, there would be one train every 15 minutes during peak time and additional interval trains would run between the densely populated Ankang Station (安康) and Shisizhang Station (十 四張). To encourage people to
RSS