Homeless People Have Not Been Optimally Handled

KOMPAS/AGNES BENEDIKTA SWETTA BR PANDIA

A barracks in Pondok Sosial (Liponsos), Keputih Surabaya is inhabited by elderly people, on Friday (22/1/2021).

Using only one method is not enough in ensuring that homeless people will not return to live on the streets. A comprehensive strategy is needed to solve the problem.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The government’s lack of effort has helped perpetuate homelessness in the country. Many people who do not have a residence and a permanent job are living on the streets in the country’s major cities.

According Social Affairs Ministry data, Indonesia had 15,995 homeless people in 2019.

They don’t have of ID cards (KTP), which means they are unable to claim certain rights as Indonesian citizens. For example, they are unable to get social assistance, formal employment, housing and free health facilities.

Also read: Scavenging Fate in Front of Shops

Simon alias Penang, 45, a homeless man in Medan, North Sumatra, acknowledged that he did not have a KTP. As a result, he could not get social assistance provided by the government during the COVID-19 pandemic. He was also unable to access free health facilities.

"If I\'m sick, I just buy medicine at the shop," he said on Thursday (28/1/2021).

Penang is also really worried about COVID-19. He has nothing but one scuba mask to protect himself from the disease.

Husband and wife Soleh and Mak Nur, who are homeless in Jakarta, said they had been visited by government officials.

"They didn\'t drive us away, they just asked us to obtain our KTP and KK [family card]. We lost the documents in a fire several years ago. I want to apply for the documents but I don\'t have any money,” Mak Nur said on Monday (25/1).

Because they do not have the documents, the couple, who come from a transmigration area in Lampung, has never received social assistance from the government during the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, this pair of scavengers has been stranded in the capital since the pandemic.

A researcher on vagrants and beggars, Engkus Kuswarno, said people became homeless partly due to the state’s inability to handle its social problems.

KOMPAS/AGNES BENEDIKTA SWETTA BR PANDIA

As many as 15 elderly people have been living in the barracks for the homeless, beggars, street children and the elderly at Liponsos Keputih Surabaya, as seen on Friday (22/1/2021).

"A prevalence of homelessness indicates that the government cannot manage [the homeless] properly," Engkus, who is also professor of communication studies at Padjadjaran University, said on Wednesday.

According to him, several things have escaped the government\'s attention in dealing with homeless people. Training in social rehabilitation, for example, does not necessarily guarantee the life of a homeless person in the future.

"They are also homo economicus who have basic human needs — it’s no wonder that they will calculate what benefits them most. On the streets, they can meet their daily needs better than if they use their skills obtained from the training,” said Engkus.

However, the government needed to make a more effective policy in order to curb the increase in homeless people in the country.

An economist at the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef) Media, Wahyudi Askar, said homelessness was not a new issue. However, the government needed to make a more effective policy in order to curb the increase in homeless people in the country.

"For example, the way to deal with those who became homeless before and after the pandemic is different, not to mention the difference in age. The approach for the homeless who are still of productive age and the elderly should be different," said the poverty researcher.

Guidelines in addressing social problems, including the homeless , have been stipulated in a number of laws. Several local governments have also issued such regulations, such as the Jakarta Government Regulation No. 4/2013 on social welfare.

A regional government regulation, said Media, could be issued to handle homeless people on the condition that it determines the form of its treatment. For this reason, social service officers need to go to the field to collect data and carry out rehabilitation programs.

"Homeless people who have an elementary or junior high school education can, at least, be taught entrepreneurial skills. For the elderly, it might be impossible to train them,” said Media.

Social Affairs Minister Tri Rismaharini said in Surabaya, East Java, on Sunday (31/1) that the strategy in handling homeless people needed to be changed to ensure they would not return to the streets.

“The handling of the homeless should no longer be in the form of short-term projects, but it must be able to completely eradicate the problem," said Risma.

They are asked to save their money, which they can later use as capital to open their own business or to get a place to live.

She said that the Social Affairs Ministry had provided training for homeless people at its 41 social training centers. For example, they are trained to make cafe chairs, to raise catfish and to open hydroponic farms. During the training, they get money from the agricultural products they produce and crafts they make. They are asked to save their money, which they can later use as capital to open their own business or to get a place to live.

Regarding population documents, Risma explained, some homeless people had actually been registered in the provincial population and civil registration (Disdukcapil) office.

“The problem is that they don’t have an address so the Disdukcapil office cannot print their ID cards, ”he said.

Jakarta Deputy Governor Ahmad Riza Patria said the Jakarta administration had implemented several programs for homeless people: first, optimizing the homeless outreach or control program through the Main Praja Partners Cooperation Forum in the field of social welfare; second, to return homeless people in Jakarta to their hometowns.

"Third, with a sustainable program, the provincial government promotes public awareness so that people will not come to Jakarta if they don’t have adequate skills, a job or housing even though Jakarta is not a closed city," he explained.

KOMPAS/AGNES BENEDIKTA SWETTA BR PANDIA

Homeless barracks, beggars, street children and elderly people at Liponsos Keputih Surabaya, Friday (22/1/2021) just before lunch.

The head of the Medan City Social Affairs Office, Endar Sutan Lubis, said that many homeless people claimed they did not have a family and ID card.

"After being checked, it turned out that they had a house, ID card and family in their hometown. However, they choose to live in Medan for a better income, ”said Endar.

Another problem is the limited number of homeless and beggar monitoring officers in Medan. The Medan City Social Affairs Office, for example, only has a patrol team of 15 personnel. (AND/ERK/WER/NSA/ETA/GER/SON)

(This article was translated by Hendarsyah Tarmizi).