Bangkok Metropolitan Authority officials are drawing up plans to convert an old building in Man Sri in the Pomprap Sattruphai district into a fully equipped homeless shelter. The project is set to benefit some 700 homeless in Bangkok.
According to Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra, plans to refurbish the old Metropolitan Waterworks Authority building – which sits on four rai of land near the Man Sri intersection – stemmed from a recent visit to the New York City Department of Homeless Services (DHS). There, Bangkok city officials saw how comprehensive and human rights-sensitive NYC’s programs in assisting homeless individuals were.
Sukhumbhand’s delegation was in New York to receive the World’s Best City Award organized by Travel & Leisure Magazine.
The Bangkok officials were given a tour of the DHS offices by Commissioner Seth Diamond, the Bangkok Post reported. The Thai delegation also saw first hand what life was like in some of the 250 homeless shelters which were established in an effort to help NYC’s ballooning number of vagrants.
New York City has an estimated 3,000 homeless people roaming the streets to date. This number continues to rise despite the DHS’ 24-7 operations. The state spends about US$800 million (THB25 billion) a year to address the problem. Diamond told the delegation that each of the four DHS offices in New York attends to roughly 200 vagrants per day.
After being referred to one of the shelters, homeless people are given a monthly allowance for food and personal expenses. The amount is bigger for homeless families. The assistance given the DHS includes sending the children to school, rehabilitating drug addicts, behavior modification, and psychological counseling when needed. The program aims to reintroduce the homeless back to society as able and desirable members of the American workforce.
Jate Sopitpongstorn, one of Governor Sukhumbhand’s advisers, was impressed with how the homeless shelters in New York city were built and run. It covers all the basic necessities and needs of any individual. However, he noted that the situation with Bangkok’s homeless is very different. For one, New York’s vagrants are mostly urban poor who lost their homes in the recent economic crisis while the homeless in Bangkok are individuals who chose to leave their relatives or families.
Mr. Sopitpongstorn expressed concern that Bangkok’s homeless may not like the idea of being housed in a shelter. Most of them, he said, prefer to roam the streets and their favorite spots in the city.
