National—
On November 30th, 2023, Thai Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth) officials and relevant agencies publicly revealed information from an in-depth survey of the homeless people’s situation in 2023 at the Protection of Homeless People Expo 2024.
Mrs. Phoranee Phuprasert, the director of the ThaiHealth’s Office of Vulnerable Group Support, publicly stated that more than 2,499 homeless people were found as a result of unemployment and family complexes respectively nationwide. Most of the homeless people were in urban cities such as Bangkok, Chonburi, and Chiang Mai.
Due to family complexes, the stats showed that of the homeless people found 18.1% suffered from alcoholism and 17.9% from mental health problems which led to elderly homeless people increasing to 22% of the homeless people overall from the survey.
Homelessness is just one phase of life and 39% of newly homeless people have been homeless for no more than 2 years, the survey showed. From the survey, it has reflected that the proportion of elderly homeless people is increasing.
With equal support in all aspects from the Thai government, it would greatly improve the quality of homeless people’s lives to stand on their feet and solve homelessness permanently.
Volunteer networks also play an important role as a drop-in point for welfare support, social services, and the health of homeless people nationwide, concluded Phoranee.
The survey essentially hopes the Thai government will provide more financial support to get homeless Thai people back on their feet.
