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Temporary homeless shelters in S’pore nearing full capacity; 100 people on waiting list

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4 years ago

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As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to take its toll on the economy and society, 21 temporary homeless shelters in Singapore are nearing full capacity, with close to 100 people on the waiting list.

According to an article by The Straits Time (ST) on Thursday (3 Dec), the space scarcity in the shelters is mainly due to increasing demand as well as reducing number of Safe Sound Sleeping Places (S3Ps).

For those who are unaware, these S3Ps are operated by several community and religious groups, which voluntarily open up their premises as a short-term sanctuary to those who are in need of a roof over their heads.

Times were tough during the coronavirus outbreak, particular during the circuit breaker period when non-essential services were halted. Many on the streets – who normally spend their nights at void decks or even their workplaces – were asked to seek refuge at a shelter due to safety measures.

Not forgetting, a handful of them became homeless due to the travel restrictions. Those who hail from Johor or Batam were unable to commute to and fro for work, leaving them stranded in Singapore having to spend their nights sleeping in the rough.

“The economic downturn has also contributed to the number of homeless individuals, who may face the loss of jobs and may no longer be able to afford open market rental rates, as well as tensions between families or co-tenants,” said a spokesman from the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF), as cited by ST.

“S3Ps are temporary interim accommodation run by community partners who have availed their premises, mostly in religious premises, to provide overnight stay for rough sleepers out of goodwill,” added the MSF spokesman.

Before the circuit breaker came into force in April, there were only seven S3Ps.

The two-month circuit breaker period saw an increase in S3Ps, with over 40 shelters operating at that time. Unfortunately, nearly half of them had to close their doors as they needed to resumed their primary operations, among other reasons.

The MSF spokesman told ST that at the moment there are 21 S3Ps in operation – which can house about 560 individuals – though most of these spaces have been taken up.

What’s more, it is said that there were about 100 people on the waiting list as of mid-November.

The MSF spokesman explained that the remaining vacancies in the S3Ps are for people pending admission, among other things.

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IMDA to probe Singtel’s island-wide landline outage of 8 October

The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) is investigating Singtel’s island-wide landline outage on 8 October, emphasising its commitment to thoroughly examining any public telecommunications service interruption. A Singtel spokesperson described the outage as an “isolated incident,” adding that there is “no evidence to suggest it is a cyber-related event.”

Published

2 days ago

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9 October 2024

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On 8 October 2024, a significant landline outage affected Singtel customers across the island.

According to Lianhe Zaobao, the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) stated that it takes any public telecommunications service interruption seriously and will investigate the incident thoroughly.

In a Facebook update at 8:25 PM on the same day, Singtel announced that its fixed voice services had been fully restored.

The telecommunications provider expressed its apologies for the disruption and the inconvenience caused to customers.

Earlier, the disruption also impacted emergency call services, affecting both the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) and the Singapore Police Force (SPF).

Members of the public experiencing difficulties reaching emergency numbers 995 or 999 were advised to send an SMS to SCDF at 70995 or SPF at 70999.

Both SPF and SCDF later reported on 7PM that the earlier disruption affecting the 995 and 999 emergency hotlines has been resolved.

The authorities assured the public that they could resume using these hotlines for emergencies and expressed gratitude for the public’s understanding during the outage.

Earlier that day, around noon, multiple users reported difficulties making calls through landlines on Singtel’s official Facebook page and X (formerly Twitter), including problems with office lines.

A check on Downdetector revealed a surge in outage reports for Singtel beginning around 2 PM, peaking at 2,781 complaints. By 5 PM, the number of reports had decreased to over 500.

According to the feedback on Downdetector, most of the problems faced by users pertain to landlines, which matches the responses from netizens on social media platforms.

Major institutions were also affected by the outage. KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH), the National Cancer Centre, and Changi General Hospital (CGH), all under SingHealth, alerted the public to the disruption.

By approximately 6:30 PM, all three institutions confirmed that their telephone services had been restored.

Additionally, Singapore’s three local banks—DBS, UOB, and OCBC—reported similar issues with their customer service hotlines during the outage.

According to CNA, a spokesperson from Singtel described the outage as an “isolated incident” and stated that there is “no evidence to suggest it is a cyber-related event.”

 

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Emergency phone services restored following Singtel landline outage

Both the Singapore Police Force (SPF) and Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) announced at 7 PM on 8 October that the disruption affecting 995 and 999 hotlines had been resolved. This followed Singtel’s island-wide landline outage earlier that day. The public can now resume using the hotlines for emergencies.

Published

3 days ago

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8 October 2024

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SINGAPORE: Both the Singapore Police Force (SPF) and Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) announced via Facebook at around 7:00 PM on 8 October that the earlier disruption affecting the 995 and 999 emergency hotlines has been resolved.

The issue followed an island-wide outage of Singtel’s landline services, which occurred around noon.

The authorities confirmed that the public can now resume using the hotlines for emergencies and expressed their gratitude for the public’s understanding during the disruption.

At 5:07 PM, Singtel posted an update on Facebook stating that their engineers had isolated the problem affecting their fixed voice services.

The telco provider added that recovery measures were swiftly being deployed, and services were progressively being restored.

Earlier, users had taken to Singtel’s official Facebook page and X (formerly Twitter) to report difficulties making landline calls, including issues with office lines.

A check on Downdetector revealed a surge in outage reports for SingTel starting around 2 PM.

According to the feedback on Downdetector, most of the problems faced by users pertain to landlines, which matches the responses from netizens on social media platforms.

Major institutions were also affected by the outage. KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH), the National Cancer Centre, and Changi General Hospital (CGH), all under SingHealth, alerted the public to the disruption.

By approximately 6:30 PM, all three institutions confirmed that their telephone services had been restored.

Additionally, Singapore’s three local banks—DBS, UOB, and OCBC—reported similar issues with their customer service hotlines during the outage.

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