Commentary Says Taiwan’s Homelessness Policy Still Relies on Remedial Welfare

**Taiwan’s Approach to Homelessness Under Scrutiny**

An article published by The News Lens argues that Taiwan’s government still falls short of a remedial welfare approach to homelessness. The piece describes people who sleep in parks, public spaces and other unsheltered settings as neighbors, and it says public impressions often rest on stereotypes of laziness and disorder. The article cites a 2012 survey by the French agency INSEE, which it says found that 10 per cent of people experiencing homelessness held higher education certificates. It also says many Taiwanese people experiencing homelessness held steady white-collar jobs before they lost housing, and that what they often lack is a path back to ordinary life.

The article reports that two people experiencing homelessness were killed in the winter near Yongshan Temple in Taipei. It says discrimination against people without housing is widespread, and it describes a Taipei resident who asked police to collect belongings and spray water on a park bench every three hours to keep people from sleeping there. The article presents this as part of a wider pattern of public hostility toward people sleeping in public spaces.

According to the article, Taiwan’s policy has shifted over time. In 1968, the provincial government agreed to a scheme that treated homelessness as a public order issue, with police collecting people and placing them in shelters in a semi-custodial manner. In 1994, a shelter scheme was established that defined homelessness as a social welfare problem.

The article says actual budgets remain very limited. It states that some counties have no budget for social assistance, or have only one or two staff members, or even a single person, handling services for people experiencing homelessness. In Taipei, it reports that the Social Affairs Department’s reception centres are located in New Taipei City and offer 84 beds. Together with a publicly run private camp and a community-based night support programme providing secondary residential services, the article says the total is 170 beds.

The article cites figures from June 2019, when 2,776 people experiencing homelessness were registered. It also cites a study led by Professor Jung Lee-jin, commissioned in 2004 by the Social Affairs Department of the Ministry of the Interior. The study reported that 70 per cent of respondents considered themselves “unemployed for too long,” while nearly 50 per cent cited unpaid rent. The study also listed a personal factor at 39.7 per cent and a family factor at 31.5 per cent. The article describes how people often moved from precarious employment, business failure, illness or family breakdown into unstable housing, and eventually onto the street.

The article also says people experiencing homelessness are seldom invited to participate in meetings about the services meant for them, and it argues that the current system addresses surface needs rather than deeper causes. It concludes by calling on the government and others to help people regain stable life, which the article frames as a matter of care for neighbors (Micah 6:8).

Source: Read the original report (translated from Mandarin Chinese)