Reports by MARTIN CARVALHO, HEMANANTHANI SIVANANDAM, TARRENCE TAN and FATIMAH ZAINAL

YOUTHS aged between 18 and 30 made up more than 38% of the homeless who came to Anjung Sing­gah for assistance, said Deputy Wo­­man, Family and Community Dev­elopment Minister Hannah Yeoh.

She said records at the temporary lodging and intervention centre for the homeless also showed most of them were from rural areas.

“Many have completed their Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia-level education and told their families they are heading to Kuala Lumpur for work.

“Back in their villages, a kenduri (feast) is usually held to celebrate working in Kuala Lumpur but when they get there, they can’t find jobs.

“Many could not bear to face their families and end up loitering in the city,” she said replying to Natrah Ismail (PH-Seki­jang) who asked on measures taken by the ministry to overcome the growing number of homeless people in urban and rural areas.

Yeoh added that Anjung Singgah focuses on providing counselling and job matching programmes to help those looking for employment.

She said private companies with job opportunities could also approach the centre to help in the job matching programme.

Earlier, Yeoh said so far there were 1,439 people registered as homeless due to various reasons such as unemployment, drug addiction and mental health problems.She added that volunteers at Anjung Singgah also reported an increa­sing trend of mentally disabled people seeking help at the centre.