JOHOR BARU: The state government is conducting a study on how to identify and help the homeless in Johor Baru area.
State Women Development and Tourism Committee chairman Liow Cai Tung said there was a need for the state government to identify those who were genuinely homeless.
“The Anjung Singgah homeless shelter is currently full. However, we found that not all of those who use this facility are actually homeless.
“Some of them are people who work in Singapore who prefer not to go home but stay at the shelter or at the Sultan Iskandar Building while they commute to work,” said Liow.
She said the study would also look into whether there was a need to set another homeless shelter like Anjung Singgah or to expand the existing facility.
“At the moment, there is no more space at Anjung Singgah. We are studying whether to set up another facility or to expand it, if possible,” said Liow.
She said the state government was looking into the matter as it affected the image of the city and the state,
“However, at the moment, there is no statistics to show how serious the problem is in Johor,” she added.
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