Experts on ways for government to address the issue of homelessness
Pix for representational purpose only/Bernama
PETALING JAYA: While a lot has been done to ensure affordable housing for the population, many continue to fall through the cracks.
Apart from those who do not fit into any criterion that qualifies them for government-sponsored housing schemes, there are others who do not qualify for bank loans and, more recently, those who have lost everything as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, leaving many of them without a roof over the head.
While homelessness is not starkly visible in Malaysia, it is a worsening problem. Data on the homeless is scarce, but the most up-to-date figures available from 2016 showed that at that time, there were 1,500 to 2,000 homeless individuals in Kuala Lumpur, compared with only 600 just two years before.