As a cold spell grips Hong Kong, scores of homeless residents are choosing to endure the chill rather than take refuge in government shelters, where they say it feels “like being imprisoned”.
When the Post visited the 5.5-hectare Tung Chau Street Park in Sham Shui Po – one of the most popular spots for street sleepers – on Tuesday night, around 70 people were found staying there in about six clusters.
Most were sheltered in tents or on foldable beds, some tucked behind flower beds, pillars or makeshift screens for privacy.
Among them was Henry Lai, 62, dressed in a short-sleeve T-shirt and a light jacket despite the falling temperatures. Tuesday marked “Major Cold” on the Chinese calendar, considered the chilliest time of the year.
The Hong Kong Observatory had warned that temperatures would gradually drop to as low as 11 degrees Celsius (51.8 Fahrenheit) in urban areas on Thursday and even a few degrees lower in far-flung northern districts under the influence of an intense winter monsoon.
The minimum temperature is expected to hover near 12 degrees on Friday before rising again in the coming days.
Lai, who once worked in the export sector at the old Kai Tak Airport, had placed a wooden board next to his folding bed to guard against the bitter winter wind.
“[I’ve got] a cotton quilt. If it’s really cold, I’ve a reserve blanket and that will be enough,” Lai said, adding that he could also wear a hat when needed.
Eighteen temporary shelters operated by the Home Affairs Department opened citywide on Tuesday night. These centres are made available whenever a cold weather warning is issued.
But Lai said he had never used them, even when temperatures had dropped much lower, and preferred the open air and freedom in the park.
“Inside the cold shelters, it’s like being imprisoned,” he said.
Lai said he would not choose to sleep in underpasses either, describing them as dirty, with pedestrians and other homeless people urinating there.
The cold spell did not bother another homeless man in the park, Lee Tat-fai, who said he usually slept inside a tent where he had several thick blankets.
When asked if he would consider using the government’s cold-weather shelters, Lee grimaced before replying: “The blanket’s fibres fly everywhere, sticking all over my clothes,” referring to the loose-fibre ones typically provided at the shelters.
“Unless typhoon signal No 8 is issued [in summer], I have no choice and will go. But like now, when it’s just a bit chilly, I normally don’t,” he added.
He said another concern was that many of his belongings could not be brought into the shelters and might be stolen if left behind.
Lee, who has lived in the park for about 10 years, also complained about the poor condition of toilets in the government shelters.
He explained that he kept warm by wearing several layers of clothing, though he avoided the heat packs given by charities.
“They’re like 50 or 60 degrees – my skin feels like it’s burning,” he said.
Park resident Suen Chi-keung, 65, appeared less resistant to shelters.
On Wednesday night, when the temperature in urban areas dropped to about 15 degrees – four degrees lower than the previous night – Suen said that he would head to the nearby cold shelter the next morning when he could not stand it.
“This [Wednesday] morning already feels noticeably colder than the previous night,” he said. “There should be some other street people who went to spend the night at the Nam Cheong District Community Centre [cold shelter] too.”
He had been using a few umbrellas to shield his foldable bed from the wind. With a thick cotton quilt on his bed and a few others underneath, they should be enough to resist the chill, Suen said.
“I won’t be stubborn about not going, if catching a cold is really troublesome,” he said.
“And the best thing there is that they provide you with meals.”
In Tsim Sha Tsui, 86-year-old “Elder Chan”, who introduced himself as STDM Chan, lived in an underpass next to the Hong Kong Cultural Centre.
He knew about the Henry G. Leong Yaumatei Community Centre shelter, the only one in the vicinity, but his poor eyesight made the roughly 30-minute walk too difficult.
He was content with the underpass, praising its roomy space.
“I’ve got a quilt, there’s nothing to worry about. I’ve been here for 11 years,” he said.
There are about 50 homeless living in the underpass near the cultural venue, according to Ng Wai-tung of the Society for Community Organisation.
Ng said some street sleepers avoided government shelters because of their location and the rules there.
He noted that residents were often woken by staff in the morning if the centre was not expected to open that day, to clear the space for other community users. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
