Information on homelessness and housing
Dear Labour and Welfare Bureau,
I would like to request some information on homelessness. If these questions cannot be answered within the Labour and Welfare Bureau, I would like to ask you if they can be transferred to the right organization.
Question 1) Can the HKSAR government confirm the reported figure of a 22% increase in registered “street sleepers” from 2019 to 2020, amounting to 1,423 individuals? If not, what are the official figures after 2020?
Question 2) Given that non-profit organizations believe the actual number of homeless individuals is higher than the registered count, does the government have any estimates or data that might reflect a more accurate number?
Question 3) Can the HKSAR government provide a breakdown of the homeless population in terms of their status and nationality? Specifically, how many are local citizens, migrants, refugees or non-refoulement claimants, children (non-Chinese) or belong to other categories?
Question 4) Are there any measures the HKSAR government undertakes to prevent migrants from becoming homeless or to assist homeless migrants?
Yours faithfully,
David Wilson
本局已收悉閣下的電子郵件。如有需要，我們會盡快作出適當跟進。謝謝。 勞工及
福利局 (此為電腦自動發出的訊息。) This is to acknowledge receipt of your
email. We shall take follow-up action, where appropriate, as soon as
possible. Thank you. Labour and Welfare Bureau (This is generated by an
auto-reply programme.)
Dear Mr Wilson,
Your application for access to information dated 9 October 2023 has been
received. The application is now being processed and a reply will be given
to you in due course.
Best Regards,
Mark CHEN
Access to Information Officer
Labour and Welfare Bureau
Dear Mr Wilson,
Further to our email from 19 October 2023. The information you requested
(Question 1, 2 and 4) are under the possession of the Social Welfare
Department. For Question 3, the requested information are not in the
possession of the Social Welfare Department and the Labour and Welfare
Bureau. Please let us know if you consent to transfer the request to
Social Welfare Department for follow up.
Best Regards,
Mark CHEN
Access to Information Officer
Labour and Welfare Bureau
From: LWB ENQ/LWB
Sent: Thursday, October 19, 2023 9:10 AM
To: 'David Wilson' <[1][FOI #1433 email]>
Subject: Re: Freedom of Information request - Information on homelessness
and housing
Importance: High
Dear Mr Wilson,
Your application for access to information dated 9 October 2023 has been
received. The application is now being processed and a reply will be given
to you in due course.
Best Regards,
Mark CHEN
Access to Information Officer
Labour and Welfare Bureau
Dear LWB ENQ/LWB,
Thank you for you reply, I hereby consent to transfer the request to the Social Welfare department. Can you indicate when I will receive a reply?
Thank you,
Yours sincerely,
David Wilson
本局已收悉閣下的電子郵件。如有需要，我們會盡快作出適當跟進。謝謝。 勞工及
福利局 (此為電腦自動發出的訊息。) This is to acknowledge receipt of your
email. We shall take follow-up action, where appropriate, as soon as
possible. Thank you. Labour and Welfare Bureau (This is generated by an
auto-reply programme.)
Dear Mr Wilson,
The Social Welfare Department (“SWD”) received referral from
Labour and Welfare Bureau (“LWB”) on 24 October 2023 of Questions (1), (2)
and (4) of your request raised under the Code on Access to Information on
9 October 2023, seeking access to information regarding homelessness in
Hong Kong. Please find SWD’s reply to Question (1), (2) and (4) below-
Question (1) and Question (2)
2. To keep track of the demand for welfare support services for street
sleepers, SWD set up a Street Sleeper Registry (SSR) through the
collection of information by casework service units of SWD and
non-governmental organisations (NGOs), as well as NGOs dedicated to
serving street sleepers. For street sleepers who refuse to release their
personal data in the SSR, only their street sleeping characteristics and
welfare services received will be reported, without disclosing their
personal particulars. According to the information of the SSR, the number
of registered street sleepers in the past 5 years is tabulated below-
┌──────────────┬───────┬────────────────┬────────────────┬───────┬───────┐
│ Year │2018-19│ 2019-20 │ 2020-21 │2021-22│2022-23│
├──────────────┼───────┼────────────────┼────────────────┼───────┼───────┤
│ Number of │ │ 1 423 │ 1 580 │ │ │
│ registered │ │(9.71% increase │(21.82% increase│ │ │
│ Street │ 1 297 │as compared with│as compared with│ 1 564 │ 1 441 │
│ Sleepers in │ │ 2018-19) │ 2018-19) │ │ │
│ SSR │ │ │ │ │ │
└──────────────┴───────┴────────────────┴────────────────┴───────┴───────┘
All street sleeper cases reported to SWD from multiple sources were
captured in the SSR. SWD does not have other estimate.
Question (4)
3. If non-Hong Kong residents encounter emergency situation and are
unable to obtain assistance from relatives, friends or the consulate to
meet their basic needs, they can seek urgent assistance from the
Integrated Family Service Centres (IFSCs) of SWD. After verifying the
emergency needs of the persons concerned, the IFSCs will provide them with
assistance as far as possible, including providing short-term food
assistance and applying for temporary shelters operated by NGOs.
4. To address the welfare needs of street sleepers (including migrants
or non-Hong Kong residents), SWD subvents NGOs to operate three Integrated
Services Teams for Street Sleepers (ISTs) in Hong Kong to conduct day and
late-night outreach visits for proactively reaching out to street sleepers
and understanding their reasons for street sleeping. ISTs render
integrated services according to the actual welfare needs of street
sleepers and their willingness to receive services. Appropriate welfare
support services are provided to address the urgent welfare needs of
street sleepers, thereby helping them live off the street.
5. Should you have any enquiries, please feel free to contact me at
2892 5642. Thank you.
Yours sincerely,
(Will CHAN)
for Director of Social Welfare
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----- Message from David Wilson <[FOI #1433 email]>
on Tue, 24 Oct 2023 06:10:58 +0000 -----
To: LWB ENQ/LWB <[Labour and Welfare Bureau request email]>
Subject: Re: Freedom of Information request - Information on
homelessness and housing
Dear LWB ENQ/LWB,
Thank you for you reply, I hereby consent to transfer the request to the
Social Welfare department. Can you indicate when I will receive a reply?
Thank you,
Yours sincerely,
David Wilson
Dear Labour and Welfare Bureau,
Thank you for your information. However the table provided is not very clear due to the way it is formatted. Is it possible to send it in a separate file?
And am I understanding correctly that there is no information on the people who are homeless, regarding nationality, background, citizens vs non-citizens etc.?
Thank you, kind regards.
Yours faithfully,
David Wilson
本局已收悉閣下的電子郵件。如有需要，我們會盡快作出適當跟進。謝謝。 勞工及
福利局 (此為電腦自動發出的訊息。) This is to acknowledge receipt of your
email. We shall take follow-up action, where appropriate, as soon as
possible. Thank you. Labour and Welfare Bureau (This is generated by an
auto-reply programme.)
Dear Mr Wilson,
Thank you for your email. Since your access to information request has
been transferred to the Social Welfare Department(SWD), we have referred
your email to SWD for follow up.
Regarding your requested information under Question 3 of your previous
email, the requested information are not in the possession of the Social
Welfare Department and the Labour and Welfare Bureau.
Question 3) Can the HKSAR government provide a breakdown of the homeless
population in terms of their status and nationality? Specifically, how
many are local citizens, migrants, refugees or non-refoulement claimants,
children (non-Chinese) or belong to other categories?
Best Regards,
Mark CHEN
Access to Information Officer
Labour and Welfare Bureau
Dear Mr Wilson,
Further to the email dated 25 October 2023, please find the reply in PDF
format below. Thank you.
Yours sincerely,
(Will CHAN)
for Director of Social Welfare
----- 轉寄人 Enquiry DAIO/SWDNET/SWD/HKSARG 時間 10/27/2023 06:16下午
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