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 Why are so many Westerners homeless in Thailand? (The Independent)

The idyllic beaches have long attracted Brits but a growing number find themselves living rough,

with drink problems and expired visas. Stephen Finch and Jamie Merrill report

Steve is homeless. The 59-year-old isn’t living rough on the streets of London or his home town ofManchester though. He’s sleeping rough thousands of miles away in Thailand. For most people, spendingmonths on a Thai beach sounds too good to be true. But the dream has turned sour for some foreigners in

this popular South-east Asian destination.

A growing number of Europeans and Americans are living homeless in alleyways and on white sandybeaches in tropical Thailand, say charities in the country, with foreign embassies accused of failing to helptheir own nationals when they get into trouble.

Steve, who declined to give his surname over fears that his long-expired visa could land him in jail, said hehas spent two years sleeping rough on Jomtien Beach, a 90-minute drive from Bangkok. “I’ve gone 14days without food before. I lived off just tea and coffee,” he told The Independent.

After his marriage of 33 years ended seven years ago, Steve began regular visits to Thailand before settingup permanently in Pattaya, a seaside resort with a sleazy reputation close to Jomtien.

“I’m a bit of a sexaholic,” he says, also admitting a fondness for alcohol. When a business venture failed,Steve ended up sleeping on the beach. “I sent emails to friends in England just asking for a fiver but noone replied. That made me really sad,” he says. 

Sunanta Kaewmuangphet said she has seen about 25 Westerners in a similar situation in Pattaya alone

since she started a homeless charity, Shelter Centre, a year ago. Since then, she has helped people fromthe UK, Italy, Austria, Holland, Scandinavia and the US, almost all of them men. “These people need helpbut no one is helping them,” says Sunanta. 

 The Issarachon Foundation, a homeless organisation based in Bangkok, recently estimated that therecould be as many as 200 foreigners living rough across Thailand, along with 30,000 Thais. Theorganisation said that while 40 per cent of homeless Thais suffer from mental health problems, most

foreign homeless people are men with alcohol problems.

 To get by, many homeless Westerners have to eat leftovers at food courts or beg on the streets. Othershave been seen busking outside major train stations in the county’s capital. 

“The problem is worse now than it was 10 years ago,” said Lieutenant- Colonel Vasu Sangsuksai, TouristPolice deputy for central Thailand, which includes Pattaya. It’s a problem without a solution, he said.Overseas visitors caught with an expired visa face fines of up to 20,000 baht (£400) but homelessforeigners typically cannot afford to pay. The next step is prison, according to Thai law. “Many times Ispeak to embassies and they say that they can’t do anything,” says Lt-Col Vasu.

Afraid of the Thai authorities, Steve says he went to the British consulate in Jomtien every week day forseven months but staff told him that they could not help. “They felt sorry for me but they do nothing,” hesaid.

 The Jomtien consulate was closed in November after Whitehall targeted £240m in Foreign Office spendingcuts by April, 2015. The British consul in Bangkok, Michael Hancock, said: “The consular team providesan increased level of assistance to these most vulnerable people in order to help them resolve theirdifficulties and resume their lives in Thailand or return to the UK.” Last year, the Bangkok embassyprovided assistance to 1,141 British nationals, a record for the UK mission in Thailand.

Paul Garrigan, a long-time Thai resident, isn’t surprised by the growing problem of homeless and strandedWesterners. The 44-year-old spent five years “drinking himself to death” in Thailand before giving upalcohol in 2006 and writing a book called Dead Drunk about his ordeal and the expats who have fallen on

hard times in the country. He told The Independent: “I’d been living in Saudi Arabia where I worked anurse but I’ve been an alcoholic since m y teens and, after a holiday to Thailand in 2001, I decided I mayas well drink myself to death on a beautiful island in Thailand. Like many people I taught English at aschool but spent much of my time on islands such as Ko Samui where I could start drinking early in themorning at not be judged.

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“I was very lucky I put myself on the straight and narrow before I became homeless myself. Many othersdon’t.” 

Homeless Westerners are a shocking sight for Thais who generally see Western residents and backpackers,known locally as “farang”, as relatively affluent. This has made them the focus of local media reports andlast month The Bangkok Post highlighted the case of Sylvester, a 61-year-old African- American whosleeps on the beach in central Pattaya and resorts to using public washrooms to stay clean.

“I have shorts and T -shirts in my backpack for a change of clothes. On the beach, I sleep on a mat and my

backpack is my pillow.” He told the newspaper that he used to work as private contractor in Iraq beforefalling for a bar girl in Pattaya in 2009. The relationship ended in 2011 when he lost most of his savinginvested in a lorry in her name. Despite his visa expiring he decided to stay on in the county: “I do nothave anyone is the US,” he said. 

 This sort of story isn’t uncommon said Garrigan, “It can be very hard to admit to family back home –  if youhave any –  that your dream life in Thailand has gone wrong or that your heart has been broken and that you are desperate to come home.” 

Other homeless Westerners may be suffering from legal problems. Bruno Min, the direct assistance co-ordinator for Fair Trials, said foreigners facing charges aboard “are often subject to a travel ban for lengthy

periods, leaving them stranded in a foreign country, with few sources of basic financial and welfare

support, and very vulnerable to destitution”.