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“No tin sheds” ISS-HK caseworkers say

Mar 12th, 2015 | Crime, Housing, VF Report, Welfare | Comment

The village of Ha Che (下輋) is located in the rural area of Pat Heung (八鄉) where a slum fire took the life of a Srilankan refugee on 25 January 2015. Vision First campaigned for two years against refugee slums and exposed the dangerous, unhygienic conditions refugees are forced to endure without assistance or resources to rent basic, functional and safe housing.

Truth is, the results we achieved prior to the two slum fires were debatable. The SWD contractor ISS-HK only closed down the worst compounds, while slum lords got busy improving access, structures and facilities in dozens of other ghettos that remained unchallenged, despite being in gross violation of countless rules and regulations.

Slum refurbishment and improvement was the new strategy. It didn’t seem to matter that tin sheds and wooden huts were unauthorized structures that failed to meet building, hygiene and safety standards. Provided rooms had four walls and a false ceilings, ramshackle structures were good enough to settle refugees.

A case in point was the development of an area in “The slum in three sheds” reported by Vision First on 12 June 2014. A scrap yard around a small and dilapidated ancestral house was constructed into a large slum after our visit. ISS-HK approved this location for refugees in September 2014 according to the local fixer who proudly showed us around the business he was hopping to grow.

The fixer (name withheld) said he is not the registered owner, but leases the agricultural lot excluding the old brick house. He is probably not a farmer because there is no cultivation, or chicken sheds such as the modern operation across the ditch where poultry is for sale. He appears to be fixer engaged with ISS-HK in the slum business for profit. (A fixer is a person who uses influence or makes arrangements for others, especially by improper or unlawful means)

He prides himself as a humanitarian, “I want to help refugees, they are homeless. We are Hong Kong people, we have heart. We don’t want people to suffer. I built these two sheds with 20 rooms, portable toilets, outside kitchens. There is firefighting equipment everywhere … Where is the danger? ISS said no good. ISS stopped paying rent. Where should these foreigners go? Should I kick them into the street? Will you pay their rent? Why this place is no good?”

The fixer is upset with ISS-HK and feels unjustly treated. The fact that he erected illegal structures without permits escapes him. Water splashes inside the container when he flushes the primitive contraptions offered as toilet-shower to demonstrate that water flushes human waste into the field. The mobile kitchens are so rudimentary refugees don’t use them.

It appears that the fixer entered the slum business too late. He explained that the shed with 12 rooms rented to ISS-HK in September 2014, while the one with 8 rooms was operational in October. He gave us a tour kicking metal sheet to prove stability. “There were many refugees living her, but they left after ISS stopped paying rent” he laments.

The fixer is bitter, “I spent a lot of money to make these rooms. I told ISS I will build brick toilets in the field, but they said no good. There are buckets of water [for firefighting], but ISS said no good. Is this fair? From September till February they approved 20 refugees to live here, then they said, ‘No tin sheds.’ Who will pay me back the money I spent here? I cannot rent these rooms to locals. Even students will not live here. What am I supposed to do?”

RU suggests changes in welfare assistance

Mar 10th, 2015 | Food, Housing, Refugee Community, Welfare | Comment

RU letter to SWD on service changes - 10Mar2015

Fire Services launch inspection of refugee slums

Mar 5th, 2015 | Housing, VF Opinion, Welfare | Comment

On 4 March 2015 Vision First received five phone calls from several fire stations in the New Territory, referring to a list of refugee slums submitted for inspection. Fire Service Department (FSD) officers asked, “We are going to visit some of the slums shown on your website. May we ask the exact location? Could you pinpoint it on a Google map for reference?”

With a sense of urgency, the officers informed that they could not wait for a joint inspection because they were already on the way to Ping Che where the first 6 compounds on our list are located. They spoke about ‘deploying contingency plans’ and being tasks to conduct immediate investigations following various complaint letters and emails by Vision First.

Considering that we first communicated concerned about slum fire hazards in 2013, perhaps priorities changed in the wake of two events: 1) the death of a refugee in a blaze on 29 January 2015; and 2) the explosion of gas cylinders in a slum fire on 25 February 2015. These are incidents that supposedly would grab the attention of professionals tasks to protect people and property from fires.

Since time was of the essence, we suggested contacting the Refugee Union which has coordinators in every district and most rural villages, including Ping Che, from where the struggle against dangerous housing supported and subvented by ISS-HK started in May 2013. The FSD appreciated the suggestion and met a Refugee Union representative to inspect several slums yesterday.

For some utterly bizarre reason the Fire Service Department contacted an NGO (Vision First) and relied on the assistance of a society (Refugee Union), to locate and inspect refugee slums where public funds have been paid for years to purported landlords by a contracted agent (ISS-HK) of a government department (Social Welfare Department).

Why didn’t FSD ask SWD to pinpoint the slums on a Google map?

Could it be that the SWD remains clueless about the location of its refugee slums? And that would not be for lack of our offers to accompany them. It is increasingly perplexing that numerous law enforcement agents, Lands Department officers and Fire Services officers have inspected (many) slums, while the one department responsible for refugee housing prefers to remain in the dark.

Transcript of ONTV video on fires in the slums

Mar 5th, 2015 | Crime, Housing, Media, Welfare | Comment

ONTV video on refugee slums - 28Feb2015 - transcripT

 

Security Bureau reply to Vision First on 26 Feb 2015

Mar 3rd, 2015 | Housing, Immigration, Legal, Welfare | Comment

Security Bureau reply to various matters - 26Feb2015

Refugee humanitarianly assisted by HK Government seeks protection from the system that assists him

Mar 3rd, 2015 | Crime, Housing, Welfare | Comment

—— SMS START ——
From: +852566722xx
Received: Mar 3, 2015 5:15 PM

Hi I am Tariq member of refuge union, live in tsim sha tsui mansion 11 floor. Before we live 7 people in one room and landlord want to add 2 more people in my room. I stop her and she called the police and put fake knife case on me. I need your help sir. She collaborates with ISS, but she put 30 people in one room. She use ISS paper for rent home and use for guesthouse. Plz help me sir.

(content edited for clarity)

—— SMS END ——

See our blog “Ill-treatment of refugees tarnishes Hong Kong’s reputation”

Dorm rooms in TST Mansion (3)

Severe fire hazard in refugee slums

Mar 3rd, 2015 | Housing, VF Report, Welfare | Comment

Open letter to FSD on fire hazard in refugee slums - 3Mar2015

Gas cylinders removed from the slum with rusty gate

On the night of 25 February 2015, a dozen gas cylinders were removed by firefighters from “The slum with rusty gate” to prevent further explosions. Prior to the arrival of fire services, witnesses report hearing five large explosions presumably from other cylinders caught in the blaze.

onTV video on fire hazard in the slums

Mar 2nd, 2015 | Housing, Media, Welfare | Comment

月租千餘元酷刑聲請族首選

Mar 1st, 2015 | Crime, Housing, Legal, Media, Welfare | Comment

The Sun article on Vision First - 28Feb2015

“The Sun” on Lands Department failures

Mar 1st, 2015 | Crime, Housing, Legal, Welfare | Comment

The Sun on the Chung Uk Tsuen fire - 28Feb2015b

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