Work program gives homeless people new start, helps build confidence

Work program gives homeless people new start, helps build confidence

2023-09-10

Breaking free from homelessness is a long process fraught with barriers, which require extra support to overcome. Writer Lin Li-ching has started an initiative that provides homeless people with work, and offers other support to help them through the arduous process. Lin believes that to effectively reintegrate into society, homeless people must find a sense of self-worth and confidence. Through his initiative, the people he hires slowly learn to work independently, and then eventually go on to help others in need. Let’s hear from Lin and some of those he has helped. Here’s our Sunday in-depth report.

Men in red shirts gather around a machine in Taipei’s Bopiliao historic area, ready to start their work day.

This seemingly ordinary work arrangement is the result of a year’s worth of effort. For these men, ordinary is something worth striving for.

These men were originally out of work and homeless, until they met a writer named Lin Li-ching . Previously a construction supervisor, Lin helped them find work and get back on their feet.

In 2020, Lin’s book “Workers” was adapted into a television drama series. The series was well received, and won at the Golden Bell Awards the following year.

Then in 2022, Lin’s concern for homeless people led him to establish the Friends Cleaning Society – an initiative that hires homeless people to clean public spaces using high-pressure water guns.

Lin Li-ching
Writer
I know that in this era I live in, the pace of change is very fast. Whoever seizes the opportunity first gets it. This field of high-pressure washing that we are in has high future potential. It requires certain equipment, there’s a certain threshold for entry, and you need to invest in long-term maintenance. This kind of work is full of potential.

Lin believes that homeless people need to have skills in order to return to society and survive.

Under the high pressure of the water gun, the thick moss covering the ground is washed away, revealing the vibrant red color of the bricks below. The team has been at it for a year now, making walkways clean and slip-free. Their work has taken them everywhere from Keelung to Taoyuan, and the most experienced among them, Lumi, is now able to work entirely on his own.

Lumi
Cleaner
I found the cleaning job through a social worker at a social-welfare organization. Li-ching mainly taught us how to clean ground and wall surfaces.

Lumi says he has become a different person from who he was a year ago, when he was cleaning at The Red House Theater in Taipei’s Ximending shopping area.

Yeh Yi-ching
Taipei Culture Foundation
In the beginning, when we were cleaning at The Red House, that was the men’s first time doing this type of work. In the beginning their hearts weren’t really into it, and to get them to do anything we just had to give them orders. For example, we would tell them, “OK, wash this brick. OK, now this one.” They also didn’t do anything to help out, such as moving the water for cleaning. They really weren’t good at that stuff.

In hiring homeless people to work, Lin faced an especially great challenge in securing contracts. That’s because the costs for hiring homeless people are higher.

Some homeless people have poor mental and physical health health or they may be dealing with alcoholism or drug addiction. If they have petty crimes on their record they need to pay fines or enlist the help of a lawyer.

Yeh Yi-ching
Taipei Culture Foundation
In going on this journey together with homeless people, there are a lot of hidden costs involved, and it’s not certain whether they can adapt to the work immediately. So, you have to provide them with a longer training period, spend lots of time with them and help them get into the right mindset. I believe that this means greater costs involved with hiring homeless people than with hiring others.

Despite the many challenges, Lin feels that the high-pressure washing initiative brings immediate results, and the public also appreciates the clean environment it creates.

Lin Li-ching
Writer
If you invest in this, you see the results right away. You get a feeling from it, and the local residents get a feeling from it. This is a very suitable way to help disadvantaged people gain confidence. They can build confidence through their work, build a sense of belonging. They feel welcomed by the community.

This positive feedback is like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, helping homeless people rebuild their lives, and further distance themselves from the days when they were forced to sleep on the street or in Internet cafes.

Pang Pang
Cleaner
I was on the street for over 10 years. I often worried about what to do if it rained, if a typhoon came, or if it got really cold out. If you’re sleeping outside, then you worry about where to put your blanket, your clothes, your change of clothes. You worry that if you go find work for the day, your stuff will be missing when you come back. So, back then I would prefer to go to an internet cafe, so I could at least have a place to put my stuff.

Lin Li-ching
Writer
Accommodations are shockingly expensive for them. For example, an internet cafe might be NT$470 to NT$480 per day, plus another NT$30 to use the shower. That’s around NT$500 per day. If they do that for 20 days out of the month, that’s NT$10,000. On top of that, internet cafes raise prices on the weekend.

Lin encourages those who join the initiative to rent homes. However, doing so means taking on the burden of monthly rent. Homeless people often take work holding signs to advertise businesses, which pays around NT$800 or NT$900 per day. As cleaners working through the initiative, they can make much more, especially if they can use more powerful high-pressure water jets unsupervised.

Pang Pang
Cleaner
If I work with a 40hp machine I earn NT$3,000 for a day of work, and for an 18hp machine I get NT$2,500. At 40hp that means it’s a heavy engine, and 40hp is what the Navy uses to wash its Kidd-class destroyers, to wash the warships. The recoil from that engine is very strong.

In the summer of 2022, Lumi and Pang Pang found a place to rent together. In the roughly 10-ping unit, the two men had a place to call “home” for the first time in many years. Their hard work cleaning parks, walkways, schools and other public places was affirmed not only in their new-found confidence, but also in a new place of their own.

Lumi
Cleaner
These are all certificates of appreciation I have received, and there are some more that Li-ching is holding on to for me. They are certificates of appreciation for the cleaning we did, like at Badou High School in Keelung. This one here for our work at the city’s Shen’ao Elementary School has special commemorative value for me. It shows that I have worked hard.

Lin Li-ching
Writer
He knew that doing this cleaning job was something that the school would encourage. He knew everyone would give him opportunities, and the more opportunities he got, the more he felt there was a positive energy in society. He started to feel there was hope for him.

The physical and mental transformations they went through made the men more capable people.

In late 2022, the team met with a group of disadvantaged youth at a park in Taipei’s Wanhua District, and taught them how to clean with the high-pressure water gun.

With a tone full of confidence, Pang Pang speaks to a group of junior-high and high-school students. Accompanied by the Taiwan Community Practice Association, this group of students is learning how to make their community park look clean again.

Ma Ming-yi
Taiwan Community Practice Association
We also hope that they can give back to society, that they can go from being people who rely on social services, to becoming those who give back. Lots of young people fail to find their interests and direction in life through their studies. I hope that there can be different types of work options available to these youth, which may inspire them. Trying new things will give them a sense of accomplishment. They will realize that life can bring them confidence and new abilities. There are also some young people who hear Li-ching tell them they can find work, and they want to talk to him, to find out more about how they can earn money to support their expenses.

Through the initiative, youth can give back to the community, as can homeless people. Rather than just asking for help, they become the ones doing something for others, and they help disadvantaged people in turn.

Lin Li-ching
Writer
My approach is to turn them into senior workers, each working with confidence, looking like a human being, and starting to plan their life. I ended homelessness for seven people in 2022, each of them now working with me. They have jobs, they have friends, they have started saving money, and started eating, shopping, and spending well. They even do volunteer work for the community. They accompany the elderly to sell recycling, and help collect recycled items.

After a first successful year, Lin was motivated to recruit more homeless into the initiative. The road ahead will inevitably bring challenges, but he has the support of people who see his earnestness, and who provide opportunities and resources, he said.

Li Chih-yung
Taipei Culture Foundation
These homeless people do have the opportunity to return to the embrace of society. It is an honor to cooperate with them like this. From being on site and seeing their work, I can attest to the difference before and after. It feels like a new place, with an air of nostalgia, and very clean and comfortable.

Escaping homelessness and returning to society is a long and challenging process. However, through the goodwill and continuous support of people like Lin Li-ching, hopefully more and more people will have the chance at a new start.

Lumi
Cleaner
We aren’t nothing, we have worth. Drawing on our skills, we can gain acceptance from others. We truly must have work.