All illustrations by Sharon Yang . The article has been edited for clarity.

In Singapore, having a physical space to feel safe in is an often overlooked aspect of looking after one’s mental health. Without this space, Singapore’s homeless citizens lack an intrinsic sense of self-worth and value to their community, resulting in a deep-seated shame that’s tied to their socio-economic standing.

This is the underlying insight present in the results of the first-ever academic study measuring the scale of homelessness in Singapore. The results of the study, which were released on 8 November, uncovered about 1,000 homeless people in Singapore who were “sleeping rough”—a term used to describe the act of sleeping in the open.

Among the more notable findings, most of these homeless people observed were older Chinese men.

In a separate study released earlier this year about the higher likelihood of men committing suicide, it was found that older men tend to internalise their struggles, making it harder for them to be forthcoming with their feelings and difficulties. This could be the result of an unspoken rule to live up to dated stereotypes of masculinity, including providing for one’s family.

As a result, one can conclude that the internalised shame of not meeting society’s standards of being ‘man’ enough prevents them from seeking help.

While shame is a silent epidemic, according to American researcher Brene Brown, it’s rarely mentioned as one of the strongest drivers of most behaviours on both individual and collective levels when it comes to social issues. Likewise in the study’s results, there was little mention of the state of mental health among the homeless people observed, especially the older men. Understandably, it’s near impossible to assess mental health through observation and short interviews.

This pervasive shame, unfortunately, can be seen as the core reason behind several of the study’s other findings.