'Cross Border Workers Now Joining Street Sleepers'

A church group said on Monday that some cross border workers are being forced to sleep on the streets due to the pandemic restrictions and accused the government of making excuses to deny them access to temporary shelters during night.

Good Neighbour North District Church said people who work here but live on the mainland are forced to sleep on streets and parks as they are unable to commute daily due to quarantine rules nor can they afford to rent places here.

They are joining groups like those who used to find shelter in McDonalds outlets during the night but are forced out due to the pandemic curbs, said the church’s social worker, Poon Wing-shan.

Poon said three types of street sleepers now: people who used work for sectors like tourism and now struggling to survive; those who used to commute from the mainland every day and "McRefugees".

These homeless people are finding it difficult to maintain personal hygiene as public changing rooms are closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, and that this leaves them at a greater risk of contracting the new coronavirus, she said.

The church members held a rally outside the Social Welfare Department in Wan Chai and delivered a petition urging the officials to open shelters for these people.

They said they had written to the government to open all-day temporary shelters, but the Home Affairs Department rejected it, saying this would increase the risk of the virus infections.

One of the demonstrators, surnamed Chung, said that he mostly used to go to a McDonald's outlet to sleep, but due to the coronavirus restrictions, he now has to sleep in a park.

Chung said it was hard to endure because of the hot weather and mosquitoes.

Another person, who gave his name as Ma, said the government's approach of not opening temporary shelters was contradictory as he now sleeps at a facility that is opened due to the hot weather.

"If it's the problem of the pandemic, the night heat shelters should also be closed. So I found it very contradictory as the government said the temporary shelters should not be opened because of the pandemic,” he said.