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Letters

According to the latest Poverty Situation Report, released by the government last week, the city’s poverty rate reached the highest level since record-keeping began 12 years ago. The poverty rate for 2020 was 23.6 per cent before government interventions – such as Comprehensive Social Security Assistance and cash payouts – and 7.9 per cent after these interventions were taken into account.
Government poverty alleviation measures can meet the immediate needs of the poor and help the government achieve certain goals. However, in addition to the direct distribution of money, poverty alleviation should also enhance disadvantaged people’s ability to help themselves – that is, it should enable them to give full play to their ability to lift themselves out of poverty.
Improving financial literacy, rational money management, financial planning and making full use of financial skills are all ways to help alleviate poverty.
In 2020, the Hong Kong government’s recurrent and non-recurrent cash expenditure on poverty alleviation was HK$169.1 billion (US$21.7 billion). Apart from meeting basic expenses, households also need to manage and use money reasonably. Improving this group’s financial literacy requires targeted education.
Many people misunderstand personal financial management as simply making investments. Financial planning also includes daily money management, retirement protection and resource management, including planning credit, reasonable consumption, savings and other skills. This is the kind of financial literacy that poor people need.


Even so, the financial education needs of the poor are often neglected, with most financial education programmes in Hong Kong focusing on investment. As a result, many people from low-income groups come to believe financial education has nothing to do with them.
Subjects more relevant to the poor would be borrowing, consumption, budgeting and savings. Public financial education programmes should help the poor make use of their limited resources to pull themselves out of poverty.
Customised financial education is more necessary for the poor, given their limited channels to obtain financial information. Improving the financial literacy of the poor will also help reduce intergenerational poverty.
As the saying goes, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”
Weiqiang Tan, programme leader, Master of Arts in Personal Finance Education, and Xingxing Wang, PhD student in public policy, Education University of Hong Kong
City’s homeless deserve our compassion
I refer to the editorial, “No time to forget about the homeless” (November 9). The rich have not been seriously affected by the pandemic, and some have even prospered. Many people have been hard hit, however, and some were left homeless.
People often regard street sleepers as eye sores, who are filthy and have mental health issues, and are to be avoided if possible. In reality, they are helpless victims of a stone-hearted society.
Like any of us, they are part of our city and have contributed to it. They have their own sad stories. Why can’t we listen and have more compassion for them?
News of the government evicting street sleepers is not new. The requirement to use the Leave Home Safe app to enter government buildings will further discourage homeless people who lack smartphones from getting the help they could previously obtain. Now they won’t be able to shower in some government premises, and it is unclear if they can enter shelters on nights when the weather is bad.
In the winter, while you are enjoying lamb hotpot indoors, spare a thought for the less fortunate. People can be more proactive and buy them some food or give them some clean clothes when we see them.
Hong Kong’s less fortunate need our help. Let’s do what we can.
Jacqueline Kwan, Mid-Levels


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Poverty

Hong Kong’s poverty alleviation campaign should include financial education

An elderly woman collects cardboard in Sham Shui Po on November 15.  Photo: Sam Tsang

Poverty report shows Hong Kong is failing its most vulnerable

Illustration: Craig Stephens

Three ways to tackle youth poverty in Hong Kong that go beyond fixing the housing crisis

Young people take part in a “sleep with you” protest at Tamar Park, Admiralty, urging government action to tackle housing, poverty and homelessness in Hong Kong, on July 5, 2020. Photo: Felix Wong

Hong Kong’s rising number of homeless women struggle on the streets, sleeping rough, trying to make ends meet

A woman sleeps at a footbridge at Sai Wan Ho. Photo: Sam Tsang

A woman sleeping on the Footbridge at Sai Ying Pun. 16JUN21 SCMP / Sam Tsang

General view of female street sleepers at Sham Shui Po；in a press conference of Soco presser on female street sleepers, the number has doubled to 1562 as of June 2021, a record high. 15AUG21 SCMP/ Dickson Lee

ImpactHK founder Jeff Rotmeyer poses for a portrait in his charity's new day care centre, The Guestroom in Tai Kok Tsui. The Guestroom is a safe place for homeless to visit. 20MAR18 [FEATURES SUNDAY MAGAZINE] SCMP / Jonathan Wong

For the 20th anniversary Handover series: Interview with Community Organizer for Society for Community Organization, Ng Wai-tung in Tsz Wan Shan. 09MAY17 SCMP / David Wong

Homeless woman Ivy photographed in Tai Kok Tsui. 17AUG21 SCMP / Xiaomei Chen

McRefugees photographed sleeping at the 24-hour McDonald's restaurant in Wan Chai. 07AUG18 SCMP / Sam Tsang

Kit and her husband Fung at their home in Tsim Sha Tsui. 17AUG21 SCMP / Xiaomei Chen

Homeless woman Ann photographed in Tai Kok Tsui. 17AUG21 SCMP / Xiaomei Chen

Homeless in Hong Kong: a cycle of despair for evicted street sleepers with few places to go but back to the streets

Nguyen Van Son and his neighbours on a footbridge in Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong’s poorest district, have limited options after packing up their shelters: a subdivided flat, a ‘coffin home’, or another street berth

Nguyen Van Son's belongings, a street sleeper who is evicted from the Yen Chow Street footbridge, photographed in Sham Shui Po. 11JUL18 [FEATURES] SCMP / Tory Ho

“With so many people living in small spaces, it’s strange to see all these amenities empty,” Cummins wrote in the photo caption, “As a solo traveller, I’m often alone in crowds and this photo resonates with me.” he said. Ap Liu Street, Sham Shui Po. Undated. Photo: Daniel Cheung Sung-lok

On his last night at the Yen Chow Street footbridge, Van Son Nguyen, 63, lights a mosquito coil to repel insects, Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong> Photo : Handout [FEATURES 2018]

General view of the bridge where a group of homeless people sleep, photographed in Sham Shui Po. Street sleepers meet home affairs officials on street clearance operations and address housing needs at Cheong San Lane, Sham Shui Po, Kowloon. 21JUN18 SCMP / Edward Wong

Cage house at Mongkok. 03DEC13

Nguyen Van Son, street sleeper who is evicted from the Yen Chow Street footbridge, packs his belongings in Sham Shui Po. 11JUL18 [FEATURES] SCMP / Tory Ho

Nguyen Van Son, one of a group of street sleepers evicted from a footbridge in Sham Shui Po, packs his belongings. Photo: Tory Ho

Opinion


Readers discuss improving financial literacy among the disadvantaged groups in Hong Kong, and call for a more sympathetic attitude to the city’s homeless



Readers discuss improving financial literacy among the disadvantaged groups in Hong Kong, and call for a more sympathetic attitude to the city’s homeless.


Hong Kong economy

Financial literacy

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} Readers discuss improving financial literacy among the disadvantaged groups in Hong Kong, and call for a more sympathetic attitude to the city’s homeless

Readers discuss improving financial literacy among the disadvantaged groups in Hong Kong, and call for a more sympathetic attitude to the city’s homeless