Story and photo by Pattaraporn Pongampai

If the “homeless” just had a home, would they really be satisfied and comfortable?

Is the issue of homeless/defenceless people in Thailand being solved at the right points?

Is the model of building welfare shelters enough to solve housing issues for the homeless? Does it truly meet the needs of the homeless?

Let’s get to know the homeless/defenceless in Bangkok from the Trok Sake area to around Hua Lamphong– stories that must reflect their feelings and memories related to the place called “home” and what it is like to be unable to return home, since they “have no home” to return to.

When you are a “homeless person” in Bangkok

Formerly homeless, 38-year-old Nueng used to sleep near Hua Lamphong by Phadung Krung Kasem Canal.

Nueng was born in Ubon Ratchathani and moved to Bangkok with his parents. After his paternal grandmother passed away, his family moved back to Ubon. At that time, Nueng did not go back with them. He worked as a waiter in a restaurant in the Sukhumvit area. During the first wave of COVID, he still had enough savings to support himself. Then in the second wave, the restaurant where Nueng worked closed down, unable to carry the heavy costs. In June 2022, without enough income to pay the rent, Nueng decided to move to stay in the area behind Hua Lamphong. He was not troubled by the issue of food since there were people giving out food regularly, but it was difficult when he needed to use the bathroom or if he got sick. Some homeless people who do not have ID cards might die by the side of the road.

Nueng said that during the first wave of COVID, he and his friends who live by the public roads had to escape arrest by the authorities. The way the authorities dealt with the homeless situation at that time was to use aggressive measures, whether using military vehicles to detain people or high-powered water cannon to spray them. When they heard the sound of cars or saw someone wearing pink, the people in the area all knew that they had to run.

“Right now, I have a job, so what I want most is a place to live. It probably can’t change from a rented room to a permanent house. It’d probably continue to be a rented house like this,” Nueng laughed.

“I have a house in the provinces, so once I get old, like 40 at most, I can still go back home. But what will people without a house do?” Nueng said.

Bang-on, 62, formerly homeless living near Hua Lamphong by Phadung Krung Kasem Canal.

Bang on, 62, sells goods and fruit. She travelled from Samut Prakan to sell fruit in the urban area near Mahanak Market and found a room for rent nearby. However, after COVID hit, she could not sell well. The money she earned was not enough to pay for the rent, and eventually, she became a “defenceless person.”

Bang-on told us that during the first outbreak of COVID-19, the state authorities did not provide help. Instead, they pushed them away, with the view that they were not doing any work. They insulted and criticised the groups of people who gave out goods and food, saying that this behaviour promotes laziness in homeless people, who refused to go and find work. It was only in the more recent outbreaks that medical staff from hospitals provided them with COVID-19 vaccines. NGOs also provided help and support, as well as checked their rights to welfare and so on.

“I personally don’t want much, just an opportunity. Help me find a room for rent while I have no place to stay, no place to sleep. Help me find a job, give me a bit of money to be able to stand by myself. I’d be satisfied with just that.”

Wet, 50, a homeless man who regular sleeps in the Thewet area.

Wet is from Ratchaburi. He used to be an agricultural labourer, but his income was not good. He decided to look for work in Bangkok as a bus conductor and did general odd jobs. Today, due to his old age and having been in a car accident which resulted in a leg disability, he is not able to work. He is currently living in the Thewet area and returns to Ratchaburi once in a while. His house registration is still in Ratchaburi, but he no longer has a house there. If he went back he would have to stay with relatives, some of whom do not remember him at all, and they do not want him to stay with them either.

He has a national ID card and a disability card, and the Issarachon Foundation took him to register his rights. If he gets sick, he is not worried since he has the right to treatment with his card, but many of his homeless friends have no ID card and have not contacted the authorities.

“Some people have no ID card at all, and if they get sick, then it’s all up to their luck.”

The State’s Baan Im Jai and Half-Each Rent projects

The Baan Im Jai project provides free help 24 hours a day. (Photo from Baan Im Jai Bangkok’s Facebook page)

The Baan Im Jai project was first proposed in 2012 by Mom Rajawongse Sukhumbhand Paribatra, then-Governor of Bangkok. A 3 storey building near the (then) Maen Si branch of the Waterworks Authority was rented out at 200 baht per room per person per day. The 3 floors were separated into a mixed area, male rooms and female rooms. Later on in the same year, there was a resolution to return the area to Maen Sri since the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration saw that it was not worth the cost, and not many homeless people used the service. However, this project was revived in 2024 by Chadchart Sittipunt, the current Bangkok governor. The same area was rented, and other new places were also sought out to be managed for the homeless to have access to places to stay.

The Half-Each Rent project is a collaboration with the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security (M-Society), along with a network of academics, civil society, etc. The project organises places to stay through the participation of the homeless in the form of “sharing” rent. The homeless and the project each pay 60% of the rent, with the extra 20% going into a fund for further help for the homeless.

“At first, I was going to go to Baan Im Jai, but no one would go with me. Those that have been there told us both good and bad stories about it, so I didn’t go. Mainly, it’s too far away so I didn’t want to go. Then I got to know a friend from the homeless network and they invited me to the Half-Each Rent project. I wasn’t sure if the project is good or not, until I went to stay at the rented room and there was an official who helped me find work and an agency provided support for me to buy a fruit-selling cart. I have money to pay for rent right now, so I’m no longer sleeping at Hua Lamphong. If this project returns, I would like to join again,” Bang-on said.

“This project helped a lot of homeless people. Many agencies helped in finding jobs, took people to apply for a national ID card and checked the welfare or rights they were entitled to,” Nueng said.

Meanwhile, some, like Wet, disagree. He knew of both projects but did not join and chose to live in public places as usual.

“I’ve heard about it as well, the various housing projects for the homeless, but I didn’t want to go. I didn’t want to have anything to do with it. There are rules and regulations we can’t go against. The place gathers people from many different places and different ideas, everyone is different. Many vagrants in Bangkok are not all there,” Wet said.

Varawut Silpa-archa, the Minister of Social Development and Human Security, said that the qualifications for the Half-Each Rent project participants are that they must be homeless and jobless. The rooms for rent were cheap, no more than 2,000 – 3,000 baht, so that people in trouble with no place to stay can have a place to sleep and a job. For jobless people, M-Society will help them find a job and training. M-Society aimed that by 2036, all citizens must have a place to live and better quality of life.

These two projects are still far from being seriously reliable shelters for the defenceless, due to internal bureaucratic issues, like Baan Im Jai. With every political change – when the Bangkok governor changes – the policy also changes. The Half-Each Rent project sounds nice, but in practice it is difficult to carry out because the truly defenceless, people without a trade, may not be able to find sufficient income to pay rent of even 2,000-3,000 baht per month, which is not a small amount. This does not even count whether there are enough rooms available to meet demand.

Thailand has grown accustomed to solving social problems by providing temporary relief. The solution probably does not stop at simply building houses for them to live in or finding cheap places for them to rent. We may have to start from changing our ideas and perspectives on the problem first, especially for the state, both central and local authorities, who may need to think of real welfare systems before turning to providing aid.

Sarawut Munpho, Director of Welfare Protection and Quality of Life Promotion Division (WPQ).

Sarawut Munpho, Director of Welfare Protection and Quality of Life Promotion Division (WPQ) said that there are three issues to tackle when solving homelessness problem: 

1. Promoting access to basic rights through an MOU with the Department of Provincial Administration, so that house registrations are under the care of the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security.
2. Promoting accessibility to a residence, continuing the Half-Each Rent project, to support the homeless/defenceless or those with low income to set up a line of work and have some income, where the state pays 60% while the homeless person pays 60% (with the excess 20% put into a fund to help the homeless). In 2024, the project will expand to Nonthaburi, Kanchanaburi, Suphanburi, Rayong, Nakhon Ratchasima, Khon Kaen and Chiang Mai.
3. Promoting trades through employment projects in the form of commuting to work or employment at an agency or going to work in a workplace, etc. in collaboration with 12 other ministries in a project to develop the quality of life of vulnerable groups.

“Society still understands that defenceless people are the same as homeless people on the streets, but actually they include other vulnerable groups that are at risk of facing social problems. We have to solve the problem at the source, at the community and family levels, by relying on the locality to help. Although there is already an Announcement, in terms of enforcement or local acceptance and creating an understanding, it is still not enough. Some localities understand that they don’t have to do it, so they send cases to the central administration. In fact the local authorities have the power to do it all,” Sarawut said.

Atchara Sorawaree, Secretary-General of the Issarachon Foundation.

Atchara Sorawaree, Secretary-General of the Issarachon Foundation, gave an interview about helping the homeless/defenceless access their rights by operating drop in points at the Trok Sake and Pinklao areas to help the homeless/defenceless arrange for an ID card, provide advice or support for those seeking other kinds of help, including conflicts among laws about vagrancy, such as the 1992 Maintenance of the Cleanliness and Orderliness of the Country Act overseen by the City Law Enforcement Department under the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, and the 2016 Control of Begging Act or the 2014 Protection of Helpless Persons Act under the jurisdiction of M-Society. She said the problem is confused with no way out, just going in circles. This invites questions on whether the welfare system in place for the homeless/defenceless covers all dimensions.

“In the case of the homeless/defenceless who live on the streets, it’s already at the endpoint of all the system’s problems. They can’t go anywhere else anymore. There’s no place for them to go. They don’t have an identity, as if they’re already dead… Welfare should cover from birth to death. But we haven’t seen any concrete welfare structure at all. Or decentralisation of power to the localities. What are the models of each province for solving their own local problems? How are they managed? How is support provided?”

Anuk Pitukthanin, manager of development planning and policy advocacy on homeless people’s health (Thai Health Promotion Foundation), gave an interview on the problem he found which was access to the right to a national ID card for an unregistered person. For a Thai citizen to access their rights, they would require a national ID card. ThaiHealth has taken a role in expanding the card’s system for verifying rights, so that the homeless/defenceless have better access to rights such that the card is not a problem. Apart from the issue that Thais are without rights, proving their rights is considered difficult in terms of ways of getting them into the system since the system may reject the homeless/defenceless because they are poor. To solve this issue, ThaiHealth has collaborated with its network to advocate access to rights.

“What’s challenging and has no solution is the increasing proportion the elderly homeless, and homeless people who are mentally ill. How will we look after them? It’s not an issue of individuals, but it connects to a larger system. This issue is a future challenge we must address. For a model, our civil society friends are mainly driving things forward, which will be another challenge in other areas where there is no strong civil society sector. We may need state agencies such as local governments to also provide support.”

Drop-in point for homeless people at Trok Sake near Ratchadamnoen Avenue.

Asst Prof Thanaporn Sriyakul, an expert on the Decentralization to the Local Government Committee on the issue of the homeless/defenceless, sees that local authorities are able to set up a range of services without needing to build a shelter, by connecting the homeless/defenceless to their rights. This is within the scope of local governments, such as national ID cards, setting up shower and laundry service points, providing advice points, etc. to make living easier for others in their status as human beings. as to whether the use of local power will impact the issue of jurisdiction and cause duplication. Thanaporn says that there would be no duplication since every local area has a council (Subdistrict Administration Organisation Councils, Provincial Administration Councils), able to allocate budget. By 2025, all local authorities must debate their own budget support. This Decentralisation Act will enable local government to request a subsidy from the annual budget from the Budget Bureau.

“If our local governments work together in looking after the defenceless under the Announcement of the Decentralization to the Local Government Committee (DLOC) which has already given them the power, there’s no way that a defenceless person’s life will become worse. They will only get better administration from the state.”

Sanon Wangsrangboon, Deputy Governor of Bangkok.

Sanon Wangsrangboon, Deputy Governor of Bangkok, said that the problem of the homeless/defenceless actually reflects the failure of the welfare system, since it resulted in people having to live on the streets or in public spaces. They do not receive any welfare. Some have health issues. Some do not have a national ID card, and have no income. What Bangkok is doing with its networks is allocate some areas to provide services, talk, advise, make welfare accessible and rehabilitate the homeless/defenceless and enable them to return to society.

“What Bangkok wants to do in addition is have them enter the welfare system, along with management of the area. For example, control in some areas where there are homeless/defenceless may need to be shifted. Food handouts, which not everyone may get, will be carried out in 2 shifts, and in the future, it may decrease to only once, with an increase in the opportunities for the homeless/defenceless to access professions and a place to stay,” the Deputy Governor of Bangkok said.