Homelessness In Thailand
By: Piyatida Boonkit
Tags: Thailand, Homelessness, Social Issues, Homeless

Homelessness is a social issue that can be found globally. People in different regions have different reasons. So, this paper will try to find out the real reasons behind the homelessness issues in Bangkok. The root problems that make people abandoned themselves and being abandoned by families. Speaking of homeless people, many might consider these people to have problems with family separation, unemployment, being poor, alcoholics, drug addicts, so they come out to live in public areas or on the streets as shelters and hit. They are branded as lazy, not diligent enough to earn a living, unsuccessful in life, resulting in becoming homeless in the end. If defining the word homeless, it is quite diverse and different in context. However, the definition has a common point or ‘core’, meaning to refer to homeless people as groups of people who are homeless. It was said that they can be found on the streets or public areas, shelters, and general locations that distribute food. The cause of the homeless is due to many factors such as the problem of social inequality. Policy unfairness, inequality, and unfair access to government services, and ineffective social welfare systems lead to discrimination and make them fall into homeless status. People in society see them as a group of people who are scary, unlucky, and outlawed. This is why more understanding, sympathy, and care must be given to them.

What causes homelessness?

There are many causes that make people homeless. One of them is the social inequality problem in society. People of middle to low class have a higher risk of becoming homeless. Why is it so? Is it because of the unorganized set of government implementation and poverty that make people lose their job and families? The reasons for becoming homeless mentioned above have shown that the social structure has a huge role in making a person homeless. It may be caused by a family split, unemployment, neglected by house members or poverty, if supported by social institutions such as cheap and permanent housing policy or the mechanism of job search, and proper access to medical care will certainly help prevent them from becoming homeless.

Cities are also an important issue that leads to homelessness as well because finding lands and places to live is becoming harder and harder for many of the financial difficulty people. The reason that makes it so is because there are no lands left for them as most of the lands were owned by either the rich or some organization. The owner of the potential lands will not let their lands be used for no exchange. This is why homeless people choose to live on streets, overpasses, and even in abandoned buildings.

Homeless or Houseless.

According to the interview conducted by Thairath online reporters, homeless people are not all the time homeless, but some are houseless. This is because most of the homeless are from rural areas who come to work to make money in Bangkok. These people have homes and families to go back to other provinces, but they chose not to go back. There are many reasons for that, it may be that they are not ready yet. Some feel uncomfortable because their parents expect them to return from Bangkok with a good sum of money. Some people are afraid of disappointing their families if going back would risk being embarrassed by their neighbours, they choose to be homeless. There are even some who are not happy to be with their families, their families made them feel left out. So, they decided that living an independent life on the streets would be more comfortable. This fact of homeless people in Bangkok is quite strange. Unlike homeless people in other countries such as America. They are homeless which means there are no homes and no families to go back to.

The life of a Homeless.

Many people are curious as to how homeless people can survive their lives daily. In Bangkok, homeless people are often found sleeping on the bus stops or in bright places. They do not cause trouble for anyone. They can live well and make money for themselves from collecting used bottles or antiques for sale. Homeless people are not always beggars and will not just open their hands to ask for money from other people. But many people tend to have this image that homeless people are this group of people. For the homeless, they choose to eat waste foods from the bin to save the most money possible.

Homeless people are dirty and some do not shower at all. It is because bathing in public bathrooms cost 15–20 baht per visit, which is the same price as a meal. Homeless people choose to save their money for food instead of hygiene. Moreover, the water in these public bathrooms are not clean, they may be at risk of infecting bacteria that come with water while taking a bath. Bad hygienes always come with bad health. Another problem that homeless people can not avoid at all is “health problems”. The Secretary of the Isarachon foundation revealed the latest information to the news team. In one area, 5 homeless people were found to have tuberculosis(TB), up to 4 people due to tuberculosis live with normal people, causing tuberculosis to become infected easily. It is because they are in close contact with one another, also eating unhealthy food has its effect. The foundation has tried to bring the homeless people who have tuberculosis to get treatment with the hospital. But still, the result was not good. Most of them did not recover as they failed to keep up the treatment with the hospital because they were afraid of how people look at them. The homeless mentioned that they were not welcome due to the way they dress and appear. This hit society hard as it reflects the reality of our society.

After all, the homelessness issue has not been put into attention as much as it should be. People still take these people to grant. Social inequalities have never faded away, it is still living with us deep down inside. Thai society at present, says that it is more open to everything. But, is it true what they are saying? And if it is true, how to measure that everyone is open? One of the reasons that make a man homeless is unemployment. And if you still cannot connect them, some middle and upper-class people look down on these homeless people like they are nothing. No work opportunity was given which meant no money and food eventually. Homeless people are disgusted by many in a so-called high society.

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