I “meet” a guy regularly on the footbridge over Jilong - Xinyi Lu intersections and give him a few coins - he looks so defeated. Compared to Sydney, San Francisco and Tokyo the proportion of homeless people looks very low to me. Are there any squatters? I’ve seen lots of empty places but no sign of anybody camping in them.
pjdrip, I can see the man you are referring to when I look out the window (right this very moment he sits there). People from our building spoken to the city government about him and what we were told is that he does not have a handicap. I have given him some coins and some bills but must confess I have never seen him walking off the bridge. He appears and then like a ghost is gone again (including the pink plastic bucket he uses to collect money).
Maybe that’s one reason why there are so few "home"less on the streets. There are - literally - almost as many abandoned buildings in Taiwan as there are occupied buildings. I’ve noticed quite a few of those old, crumbling red brick houses that looked mostly empty and extremely dirty, BUT showed evidence of possible habitation…
Remember it was the government that added to the numbers by closing so many insane asylums in the 90’s.
Ever notice how many of the raving homeless crazies speak English and appear to be educated? 
No. I certainly haven’t noticed that. But then again, I haven’t had too many conversations with them either.
I totally agree with the comments about the homeless in San Francisco. As an Australian who has travelled to more than 40 countries and hundreds of cities around the world I was really struck by the number of homeless people I saw in San Francisco, especially along Market St. It is a city you always here so much about and it has such an amazing worldwide reputation but had no idea how bad the problem is until I actually went there about 5 years ago. It seemed as if half the people of San Francisco lived on the street. Cities in Taiwan seem to have quite low numbers of homeless compared with many other international cities. Go to Tennoji in Osaka, Japan where I lived for a while and then go back to Taipei and tell me there are lots of homeless in Taipei, there aren’t. Go to the park near Tennoji station and there are hundreds if not thousands of homeless men living in makeshift boxes.
Most of the people I assumed were homeless ended up being backpacker type chicks that had given up on using razors and wearing makeup…
[quote=“bob_honest”]Hell, where are they? Not in my dirty Neihu side street at least …
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What part of Neihu? There is one guy - a crazy, unkempt, pot-bellied old man with long hair and beard and wears an undershirt and carries a stick who haunts the area where Chenggong and Kangning Rds meet (around the Huguang Market area). Don’t know if he’s actually homeless, but he does have obvious mental problems. He’s been there for years.
Homeless people usually hang around underground passageways, especially near Taipei Station (the MRT exit in front of the Mitsukoshi tower) and under the Zhongshan-Nanjing roads intersection.
Having said that, there are homeless in most countries, Taiwan, US, China, Japan. I wouldn’t say Taiwan has more or less of them than other countries.
In Osaka, they were all over town, highly visible because of the light blue tents they slept in, in parks, on islands in the river, next to the railway station.
I haven’t been to San Francisco in more than 25 years, but in LA recently, there were certainly lots of people sleeping on sidewalks, asking you for quarters. Saw them in S Monica, in Hollywood near Sunset and S Monica Blvds.
Well…I think those homeless people need help. No matter where they are from or how old they are. Don’t you think it’s sad to see them begging? We are also human beings. But it seems nobody respect them. Maybe I won’t become their friend. But I’ll give them some help. At least some money. Let them feel better. That’s what I think.