Dear valued partner,

         The Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) has sought our assistance to reach more homeless individuals and to care for them amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Hence, to support government efforts, Hope Initiative Alliance and SowCare – the charity arm of the Bible Society of Singapore – would like to invite you to attend a special briefing on how the Singaporean community can help alleviate the plight of the homeless.  

In the beginning of this year, Hope Initiative Alliance (HIA) – an aggregator of assistance and services for the needy among its hundreds of partners – started the Ending Homelessness Together Coalition, a movement to provide holistic care for the homeless individuals in our midst. As part of this initiative, MSF partnered with HIA to advocate Safe Sound Sleeping Places (S3P) – to provide temporary shelter for the vulnerable homeless individuals.

SowCare – a key supporting partner of HIA – has been actively involved in efforts to care for the homeless. SowCare has set up S3P@Bible House, which has housed 10 homeless individuals thus far. SowCare also supported HIA and New Hope Community Services to provide holistic care for almost 260 rough sleepers through the Innkeeper’s Project, a programme to house homeless individuals in HDB estates.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, many public areas have been cordoned off, resulting in some of the homeless no longer having temporary places of refuge; many have struggled to find places to sleep, rest and consume meals. Many of them also do not have access to basic essentials such as masks and hand sanitisers, making them an extremely susceptible community. The S3P initiative thus aims to provide safe overnight interim accommodation for those who are not ready for a referral to government assistance, social services or longer-term shelter options. S3Ps provide a safe environment where rough sleepers can rest during the night. This also makes it easier for social services agencies to locate and engage them in a timely manner.

Following the sudden surge in the number of homeless persons seeking shelter during the Circuit Breaker period, MSF expects the numbers of those seeking shelter to remain high given the gloomy economic situation. In the spirit of SG United, we would like to invite you to come on board the S3P initiative as well, to avail your facilities to the homeless in these trying times for them.

To share more information, HIA, SowCare and MSF Senior Director, Lee Kim Hua, will be holding a special Zoom session on 14 and 15 Oct 2020 (below are the following details). We hope that you will take time out to attend one of the sessions and find out how you can make a difference in the lives of the homeless.