Where are all the down and out people in Singapore and how do they survive?

[curic]

Reason I ask is that this place sounds like too much heaven.

Where are all the disadvantaged? Are there no single mothers in Singapore? People who are mutes and can't find employment? People with disabilities? Old people or single old widows/widowers with no one to talk to? Single fathers struggling to make ends meet? Beggars? How do unemployed people survive? Street kids?

Am I just blind or something?

[Blinkers]

Yes, you must be. They are everywhere. Just open your eyes and look around you. Hint: You won't find them in the malls in Orchard Rd.

[One Word:]

"Heartlands"

Note on "beggars" - not allowed in SG, there are licensed buskers though.  I just gave $2 to a nice young Singaporean Chinese guy playing guitar and singing near Holland Village MRT station the other day.

[Steptoe]

Just look around as you travel through the streets. There are signs of poverty and deprivation. Better still, volunteer to visit old folks or do Meals on Wheels. There are some sad cases out there. A lot of money gets raised for Cambodia, etc, but there are more than enough people in need here.

[Agent007]

Most of them have gone back to the USA or Australia.

[curic]

okay, so how do they survive? are there any social security benefits?

[Agent007]

Yes, that's why they went back.

[Mr A]

okay, so how do they survive? are there any social security benefits?

Family is singapore's welfare system. They find a family ember and dump the person on them.

I always used to see homeless people around club street.

[MiddleClassMan]

Hi Curic,

As you might have guessed, there ARE single parents, down-and-out men, elderly who are not mobile, abandoned kids, mentally-challenged adults etc etc.  I do not blame you for asking, because even locals do not know where they have been shipped to.

Some are cared for by institutions run either by the government or by charities. Many are hidden away in rental HDB apartments.  You do not see them because there are HDB precincts most people have no business visiting.  Years ago I had the chance to join a police patrol car crew on a few night rounds.  That opened my eyes...  suicides, family disputes, violence caused by mentality ill person, elderly people dying alone...

These places are not exactly slums.  The rental blocks are generally well maintained and some look no different from other blocks if you drive or walk past them.  The reality is hidden above.  And these places are usually more "alive" at night. 

[want fries with that?]

those kind smiling toothless uncles and aunties who serve at burger chains and fill up your petrol tank are paid $4 per hour. Their salary is so low, they don't even qualify for CPF.

It's different if you want to work. It's sad if you need to work 'cos you need the money and have no support.

[LOCALmanjames]

okay, so how do they survive? are there any social security benefits?

If you are really broke, you go to your MP and gov't organisations such as the MCYS, CDAC, etc.

MCYS gives you something like 400 per month, if you are broke. Other organisations like CDAC give out food vouchers etc. Comcare programmes also gives out vouchers and all that stuff, some buy food for you.

MCYS will also rent you a one room HDB in really shitty areas for something like 50-80 bucks rental per month. A lot of broke old people live in such HDBs in Toa Payoh etc.

Medical wise, there is Medifund, which will pay for all your medical bills, so they won't let you die. Or you can also apply for a Medical Card from MCYS which will allow you to get free medical treatments at all public hospital if you are truly broke / have a serious handicap.

But you really need to be broke, they will check your bank accounts, to qualify for all these. It ain't pretty, but you won't die.

There are also programmes where you can receive training and learn a skill in a polytechnic or uni for free. And they help you to find a job later. I think they are called CET or something.

[Help People]

If you see someone that needs help, help them.

Keep those words with you as you walk.

[LOCALmanjames]

those kind smiling toothless uncles and aunties who serve at burger chains and fill up your petrol tank are paid $4 per hour. Their salary is so low, they don't even qualify for CPF.

It's different if you want to work. It's sad if you need to work 'cos you need the money and have no support.

The sad thing is they still must pay CPF, as long as you earn more than 250 or 300, you must pay CPF. That takes much needed cash away from their monthly budget.

Something like 60% of those above 40 yo don't have any formal education. 30% have PSLE, 15% have O levels, and only 2-3% have a degree I think.

These are the first generation losers, in fact, 40% of them were not even born in Singapore. On Independence Day in 1965, every one in SG became a citizen, regardless of whether you are a tourist, temp worker or prisoner.

[happy campers]

There used to be a bunch of homeless people about 6 or 7 years ago who lived in tents on Changi Beach but they moved them on.............where to I don't know.

There's a guy who I used to see who seemed to live in his car - parked in one of the car parks on the East Coast Park. 

I've seen people sleeping on ledges in some of the big underpasses in town near the river.

But most disadvantaged people live outside town.  If you don't go into the so called 'heartlands' much you probably won't see them......and to be honest, most of us don't have much call to go into the heartlands unless we live there or work there.  I worked in Tampines for a while but rarely go there now I don't work there.  I used to see people begging up there and people missing limbs etc - they tend not to hang around town (or perhaps they get moved on).

There are orphanages, homes for the elderly, places that help single parents etc.  Our school do charity things from time to time for them.  Actually there seem to be more homes for the elderly opening these days - I wonder if it's a sign of the times.  Singaporeans used to say that they didn't have old people's homes because they looked after them at home (reading between the lines........the maid looked after them at home  ) but there have been three which have opened near me in the past couple of years so something must have changed.

[anon]

Just go and hang around the old housing estates and places like Chinatown, Little India, Kampong Glam areas. These people basically live hand to mouth, eat plain porridge with preserved vegetables at home etc.

Rummage through rubbish bins, collecting cans, looking for untouched buns in a western food meal at a hawker centre etc.

Plenty falling through the cracks, but the powers that be are paranoid about creating anything resembling a welfare state so u need to be semi-destitue before u get help from the government. Even then there is a huge amount of shame embedded into the system / attitudes and u will get shunted around from one agency to another (euphemistically called "Many Helping Hands"). Its sad really.