Sleeping Rough: Some Choose To Do So, Others Have Fallen On Hard Times

Numbers of those who have received support and in need of transitional shelters have risen

- Zaihan Mohamed Yusof Senior Correspondent

She was spotted on a bench at Woodlands MRT station three days after Christmas at around 11pm and mostly spent her time scrolling through her mobile phone. At around 1am, Madam Jane (not her real name) curled up on the bench, which was lined with cardboard, tucked her small bag under her head, and fell asleep.

The 60-year-old Singaporean was one of around 10 rough sleepers, along with a group of foreign workers, The Straits Times observed nightly at the station between Christmas Day and New Year last month.

Responding to queries, the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) said the number of rough sleepers who have received support from the ministry and its non-governmental partners has risen five-fold compared to figures pre-Covid-19 pandemic.

There were at least 200 individuals who were in shelters in March 2020, but from April 2020 – Singapore entered a circuit breaker from April 7, 2020 to June 1, 2020 to arrest rising Covid-19 infections – to November 2021, the number in transitional shelters and Safe Sound Sleeping Places (S3Ps) grew to over 1,000.

Said an MSF spokesman: “During the circuit breaker period in 2020, many rough sleepers were displaced as safe-distancing measures were implemented and public spaces were closed.