The study was done by Doctor Ng Kok Hoe, a senior study fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Plan, who led the team of scientists at the school’s Interpersonal Inclusion Project to try and do Singapore’s second countrywide study on homelessness.
Amongst its findings, the study found that the range of homelessness did not change significantly in between 2019 and 2021, despite intense state intervention and the far-reaching impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The particular combined size from the street homeless and temporary shelter populations in 2021 had been 1, 036, comparable to the 1, 115 documented in 2019 .
In addition to road counts, researchers furthermore conducted in-depth selection interviews with 51 inhabitants at a temporary refuge for homeless individuals, to understand their individual circumstances, housing histories and pathways into homelessness.
Most of the interview participants were Singaporean men, old 50 years plus above, with the majority having only principal or secondary education and learning. Many were functioning or looking for function and about half had been either divorced or widowed.
Besides the two groups, the study also identified an additional group of homeless people among its job interview participants.
This particular group, which comprises more men than women, is made up of people who have been rough sleeping even before the outbreak hit Singapore within February 2020.
The long-term destitute people have been on the streets from a couple of months to up to 25 years, with their ages ranging from the 30s towards the 70s.
Many had completely lost contact with their family and had poor encounters with public rental housing. They were discovered while rough resting during the pandemic plus referred to the shelter.
All of them experienced problems in their family relationships such as historical misunderstandings along with parents or brothers and sisters that led to individuals leaving the family at a young age or acrimonious breakups involving years of conflict, even assault.
Describing their work and financial situation, the report stated this group comprises of people who have low-wage plus insecure jobs and live in extreme poverty.
They had little if any savings, and had to carefully ration anything they received simply by cutting back on basic requirements like food and toiletries, the report discovered.