Has the number of street sleepers in Hong Kong really dropped?

The number of registered street sleepers in Hong Kong fell to a 10-year low of 795 in the 2023-24 financial year, but frontline workers have said the actual figure is likely to be higher due to increased evictions from public areas by the government.

Although an increase in the supply of housing in recent years has benefited some street sleepers, social workers said more homeless-friendly policies were necessary to better address the complex needs of the unsheltered and bring down their numbers.

The 795 street sleepers recorded in 2023-24 marked a 40 per cent decline from the 1,441 in the prior financial year, and also the first time the figure had fallen into the three digits since 2017-18, according to figures revealed by the Social Welfare Department in early April.

For the 2024-25 financial year, the government has only provided the figure for the first nine months – 672 as of December.

Deep Ng Siu-hong, head of programmes at ImpactHK, an NGO serving homeless people, said the government figures were inaccurate because frontline workers continued to see an increase in demand for services.

“We cannot jump to the conclusion that the situation is improving just by looking at this figure,” he said.