More young people become homeless
During the past year in which many young non-regular workers were dismissed, young homeless people have dramatically increased. They used up what little unemployment allowances they got and savings on hand, and found no other way to live than finding shelter in a park or somewhere on the streets.
In a small park at the foot of a high-rise building in Tokyo at 7 p.m. on a Saturday, over 300 people lined up for a soup-kitchen provided by an organization supporting the homeless. Many young people were in the queue, including a 30-year old male whose job as a dispatched worker had ended last autumn and who has been living in the streets for a week.
A man of 39, who was dismissed by a car parts factory in July and forced out of the company dormitory was lying on a piece of cardboard with a backpack as a pillow at Shinjuku Station. He was not entitled to either unemployment insurance or severance pay. His money lasted only two months staying at a cheap lodging house with bunk beds.
When he tried to apply for livelihood protection, the officer said that he can work at his age or can ask relatives for help. He found sleeping on the street fearful at first, but the fear diminished in a week or so.
In another park in Tokyo, 400 people lined up for free meals. Young people in T-shirts and jeans were among them. One of them said that he still maintains his registration for temporary work, and he keeps his clothes in a friend’s room, so that he can respond to the staffing agency’s call any time. He uses the administrative shower service, and kills time at parks, libraries, and bookstores when no work is available.
Lawyer Utsunomiya Kenji, a representative of the Anti-Poverty Network, said, “The lines for soup-kitchens are two to three times longer than those of last year, and the number of complaints on living difficulties are four to five times more than last year. The central and local governments must establish emergency relief centers to comprehensively deal with jobs, livelihoods, emergency loans and medical services, and immediately carry out emergency measures”.
- Akahata Sunday edition, October 11, 2009