Many Jakartans made homeless by crisis

Many Jakartans made homeless by crisis

JAKARTA (JP): The number of homeless people and urban poor
families in Jakarta is relatively high, due to the ongoing
economic crisis, according to the latest census.

Data from the 2000 census made available by the Jakarta
chapter of the Central Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday reveals
that Jakarta had a total of 28,364 homeless people in the city as
a whole.

In addition, a total of 85,835 families fell into the "poor
family" category, as they were not able to afford proper homes
for their families.

Most of these poor families were dependent upon breadwinners
that were mostly seamen, fishermen or construction laborers.

Furthermore, a total of 4,518 heads of families were
unemployed.

About 63 percent of the total urban poor families, or 54,459,
had more than three family members and the rest had only 2
immediate family members.

Most of the poor families resided in North Jakarta, totaling
33,990 families, followed by West Jakarta, with 20,029.

South Jakarta was the area with the lowest number of poor
families, having only 8,826, while East Jakarta had 12,624, and
Central Jakarta 10,348.

The bureau defines urban poor families as those living in less
than 64 square meters of space, and without running water and
toilet facilities.

They are also incapable of providing themselves with basic
nutritious food and can only afford new clothing once a year.

The bureau, however, did not mention in its report whether the
number of homeless and urban poor had increased or decreased from
previous years.

The bureau stated only that the population in the capital grew
by a meager 0.16 percent per annum over the past 10 years to
8,384,853 in 2000, far slower than the 2.42 percent growth
recorded in the 1980-1990 period.

The slowdown in the growth of the population in the 1990-2000
period was caused by a low birth rate and migration of Jakartans
to the Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi areas. (06)