the homeless people to help them fight off the biting cold. Many more affluent residents in Taiwan took advantage of the successive cold fronts to drive up high into the mountains to appreciate rare snow scenes.
But staff of the city’s Department of Social Welfare have been busy to help more than 300 homeless people in the capital fighting to stay alive during the past weeks.
Due to extremely low temperature, the department took unprecedented measures in opening two community centers to shelter the vagabonds.
But some homeless people opted to stay outside for a more flexible lifestyle.
The huge lobby and waiting rooms of the Taipei Railway Station became a favorite spot for temporary shelter during the Chinese New Year holidays.
Many lingered on as the mercury reading stayed low.
Cardboard boxes became their beds and newspaper was used to keep warm. Some also consumed low-cost rice wine to maintain high body temperatures.
Police in the city abandoned past arm-twisting tactics used to evict the homeless as long as they did not cause trouble or bother train passengers.
The department also arranged for a homeless family of three to check into a budget hotel in Wanhua district.
Many homeless people said they had no place to live because they could not find job to pay the rent.
A number of them also said they were victims of crime syndicates who had conned them into providing ID cards in return for money, so they could then open surrogate bank accounts.
They then used the accounts to raise loans and leave debts to the legitimate ID card holders.
One homeless person said it is impossible for her to pay back the debt that had been incurred by the scheme.
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