TNAG-1732-FCO40-2445-Minutes-and-Hansards-of-the-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-1988 — Page 67

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of street sleepers should be provided with some form of

permanent accommodation in Hong Kong or Kowloon.

These

categories would probably include those street sleepers

who are not sufficiently old or infirm to be rehoused into permanent accommodation on compassionate grounds, but who

have an obvious housing need, and also those able-bodied

street sleepers who can demonstrate a valid reason for

We believe that needing to live in Hong Kong or Kowloon.

the committee's recommendation has merit and we are now

Conjunction

examining, in conjuction with the voluntary sector,

possibility of providing urban area hostels.

These

the

hostels would be different from existing hostels in the

respect that they could provide long-term accommodation

To test the and would be open on a 24-hour basis.

feasibility of this approach, the Social Welfare

Department will conduct a pilot scheme involving the

establishment of one or two hostels. If the pilot scheme

proves to be a success, we will consider initiating a full

hostel programme.

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تصالا

A

Sir, I do not see any need to change the terms

of reference of the Coordinating Committee on Street Sleepers as the Committee can conduct further reviews on

any aspect of Government's policies or programmes in

relation to street sleepers.

In this connection, Mr. Hui

will be interested to know that we shall be expanding the size of the Committee in order to bring in members of the voluntary sector who are knowledgeable about the problems

faced by street sleepers. I am sure that they will put forward some interesting suggestions for new initiatives

which the Committee can examine.