McDonald's restaurants become makeshift homeless shelters across Hong Kong... because staff are

dematan9
Oct 6, 2015
2 min read

Impoverished residents attracted by 24-hour openings and cheap food

Photographer says they are 'drinking alcohol, smoking and washing up'
Nearly 20% of the Hong Kong population lives below the poverty line

With its 24-hour openings and warm, cheap food, McDonald's is a popular destination after a night out.

But in Hong Kong, those qualities have unwittingly turned its restaurants into makeshift shelters for the city's homeless population.

Some of the city's poorest residents are now spending the night in one of the city's 235 McDonald's restaurants and staff say they are powerless to stop them.

Homeless people in Hong Kong are turning the city's McDonald's restaurants into makeshift shelters

Images taken by local photographer Suraj Katra show just how many people have been reduced to sleeping in the fast-food restaurant in a city where it is notoriously expensive to buy property.

According to the latest figures, 19 per cent of Hong Kong's population live below the poverty line, a sizeable number for a city of over seven million inhabitants.

Mr Katra said: 'If you were to walk into some of the 24-hour McDonald's in Kowloon between 1am to 5am, you are likely to find it turned into a hibernation den with people lodged on its acrylic furniture.

Makeshift shelters: According to the latest figures, 19 per cent of Hong Kong's population live below the poverty line, a sizeable number for a city of over seven million inhabitants

'It was appalling and depressing to witness people drinking alcohol, smoking and washing up in the McDonald's toilet in some outlets that were located in the decaying parts of the city.

'When I approached some of my subjects to ask them why they chose to spend their nights in McDonald's, the most common response was that they simply couldn't afford to live in permanent accommodation.

'McDonald's is where they go when they have nowhere else to go.'