Homelessness in Malaysia: A Report on Yellow House and Street Friends

This report delves into the issue of homelessness in Malaysia, concentrating on the Yellow House organization in Kuala Lumpur. It explores the diverse backgrounds of individuals residing in the shelter, including those facing discrimination due to sexual orientation, gender, and financial hardships. The report highlights the challenges faced by these 'street friends' and the vital role the Yellow House plays in providing shelter, skill development, and a sense of community. Through conversations with residents, the report reveals the societal factors contributing to homelessness, such as orthodox mentalities and lack of economic opportunities. It underscores the importance of organizations like Yellow House in offering support and advocating for vulnerable populations. The report also references relevant literature and studies on homelessness in Malaysia, providing a comprehensive overview of the issue and the efforts to address it.

Running head: HOMELESSNESS IN MALAYSIA
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1HOMELESSNESS IN MALAYSIA
Homelessness is a worldwide concern, as it affects populations across the globe,
irrespective of their gender, community, caste, creed and ethnicity. There is no particular
definition of homelessness as the term varies from country to country (Alhabshi and Manan
2012). The United Kingdom Homelessness charity crisis, home is not only related to shelter, but
it also provides the individual with sense of security, belongingness, identity and wellbeing.
Malaysia as well, suffering from the issues related to homelessness (Homeless Link 2017). There
are number of organizations that provide help to these Street friends throughout the country. This
discussion will feature one of those organizations, yellow house situated in Kuala Lumpur (KL)
and will put up some of the conversations with the Street friends people residing in that shelter.
Administrations of countries are unable to estimate the actual figure of Street friends as
the number changes much frequently. In 2016, the number of Street-friends in Kuala Lumpur
was more than 2000; however, no government verification of this figure has been done (Ghee
and Omar 2015). In between, yellow house organization continues to serve the Street friends
people around Kuala Lumpur and more than 500 people takes shelter in this home. There are
varieties of Street friends in this shelter home, someone has been thrown out of the house
because he is a drug addict, and on the other hand, a 78-year-old father has been kicked out of
the house because of his old age. One year back, Zikri (24) used to live in south KL, with his
family. However, his sexual orientation was his major sin, and according to him, He was thrown
out of the house because of his homosexual orientation. Raihana (32) is a mother of a 3-month-
old baby girl and she was thrown out of her In-laws house because she gave birth to a baby girl,
instead of a baby boy. She is now residing under the supervision of Mrs. Khadijah (45), chief
supervisor of the Women wing for yellow house organization. Besides providing shelter, yellow
house organization provide different kind of skill developing training to these Street friends so

2HOMELESSNESS IN MALAYSIA
that their upcoming generation did not face such severe problem. There are a number of
individual, who are working in KL, but their wages or salaries are not sufficient to rent a home
(Yani et al. 2016). One of those is Ahmad (29) is from Pulau Ketam, a village in Malaysia. He
came to KL to earn more for his family, but due to the high cost of living of this city, he was
unable to save money for his family, hence, he took shelter in the yellow house shelters. Nimah
(31) has been out casted of the society because she has opted prostitution to educate her
daughter. The society accused her for spreading negative inspiration to the younger generation
and this is how she came to KL and ended up in the yellow house shelter. Mrs. Khadijah is now
bearing all the cost of Nimah’s daughters education and Nimah is learning stitching and cooking
to be financially stable in her life.
Homelessness in not just a state of living, without any security and safety but also is
stressful mental condition that affects the physical and mental health of affected people. The
conversations with Street friends residing in this shelter home indicates to the orthodox mentality
of the society. In spite of helping a person to overcome his addiction, throwing out him out of
house is harmful for the person as well as the society. I this condition, Yellow house organization
is doing a Nobel work, by providing these Street friends people with safety and security.

3HOMELESSNESS IN MALAYSIA
References
Alhabshi, S.M. and Manan, A.K.B.A., 2012. Homelessness in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: A case
of agenda denial. International Journal of Social Science Tomorrow, 1(2), pp.1-9.
Ghee, W.Y. and Omar, R.N.B.R., 2015. HOMELESSNESS IN MALAYSIA: VICTIMS OF
CIRCUMSTANCE OR BY CHOICE?. Asian Journal for Poverty Studies, 1(1).
Homeless Link (2017). Homeless Link. [online] Homeless Link. Available at:
http://www.homeless.org.uk/ [Accessed 18 Nov. 2017].
Yani, A., Mahfuzah, N., Zahari, N.Z., Samah, A., Haziqah, N.F., Azahar, M., Faidhi, M.A.,
Yasin, S.M., Saman, A., Shahril, M. and Noor, M., 2016. Factors associated with homelessness
and its medical issues among urban Malaysians: a qualitative research/Nurul Mahfuzah Ahmad
Yani…[et al.]. Journal of Clinical and Health Sciences, 1(1), pp.46-58.