Homelessness in Hong Kong : failure in the co-operation between public and third sector?

Abstract

The housing price is increasing sharply since 2009. To respond for the rising housing price, the government in Hong Kong has tried to increase the housing supply and stabilize the housing price. At the same time, the number of street sleepers has also increased. Despite the efforts of the government and third sector organizations, the homelessness in Hong Kong is not yet to be tackled successfully.

In view of the above issues, the literatures on homelessness have been studied. The literature review suggests that homelessness is multi-dimensions and caused by various reasons. It is observed that, the interactions between the government and the third sector organizations in homelessness are likely under-researched.

On the other hand, apart from the government in Hong Kong, many countries have tried to tackle the homeless issues. In this paper, the homeless situations in Hong Kong, England and the United States will be studied and analyzed. Also, the weaknesses of homeless assistances in Hong Kong will be examined, and certain insights from the international experiences in homeless assistances will be drawn.

Regarding the above interactions, this paper has attempted to examine the co-operation between public and third sector organizations in the homelessness of Hong Kong. This study argues that, the homelessness in Hong Kong is not tackled successfully, by reason of the failure in the co-operation between the government and third sector organizations. Hypotheses and analytical framework are suggested for exploring the above co-operation.