KUCHING: The number of homeless individuals in Sarawak has dropped by 51 per cent in 2022.
This decrease is a major triumph for the state, as the number of homeless people has dropped from 174 in 2021 to only 89 in 2022.
Sarawak Minister for Women, Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development, Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah said according to the divisional administration in Sarawak, a total of 42 homeless persons are located in Kuching, 25 in Sibu, seven in Bintulu, eight in Miri, three in Sarikei and three in Samarahan.
“Based on the statistics and mapping of homeless people in Sarawak last year, a total of 89 homeless people have been successfully identified and profiled. Of that number, 71 of them were male and 29 per cent, female.
“Among the main reasons for them being homeless is not having a place to stay, no job, mental health issues, family problems, drug and substance addiction among other reasons such as being ex-convicts and having no family members or kin,” she explained.
Fatimah said this at a press conference after chairing a Sarawak Homeless Management Committee meeting at Wisma Bapa Malaysia here on Tuesday (Feb 7).
Apart from that, she said a total of three series of integrated homeless rescue operations and 69 operations based on community input were carried out throughout 2022.
“For the year 2023, our plan is to improve the homeless profile system in Sarawak using the instruments of integrated management of social issues cases that have been agreed upon in the Social Development Council Member Meeting (MPS) on Jan 30.
“We also want to establish a technical integrated task force – Community Wellbeing Squad to address issues faced by identified homeless people; and assess the impact of projects, programmes and social interventions for homeless communities,” added Fatimah.
