Housing for the squatters. Poverty in the slums. Congested, crowded, as urban communities continue to live in pitiful conditions with no hope of improvement. No worldly plans to own land, or home. Not during these hard times. Challenging for most, for them to think of savings much less make long-term plans for the family. Household debts are common, especially the working class, along with the torment of repaying the loan shark.

Thailand is still under martial law, dominated by the general, the intellectuals and those favouring the might of the military in ruling the realm. Self-serving, these political elites along with their entourage of supposedly holy men, cronies and bickering fanatics, are clueless of the state of homelessness and the growing poverty.

The poor in Bangkok, whether locals, stateless or foreigners, are still struggling. In fact, there’s an absence of social welfare reform in the junta’s policy. Housing, or the lack of land ownership among the urban poor, hasn’t been addressed.

Landlords still dominate over those living, technically illegally, on their land, and subject the tenants to whims and random fancies.

Livelihood opportunities, one with better wages, are limited, and certainly not reserved for those living in these poor conditions. By having a home, in a reputable location, determines whether one gets a stable job, with sufficient salary. For the working class, those living in the slums, or homeless, contributes towards the redundancy of those viewed as living at the bottom of the social hierarchy. Poverty rules these darkened narrow lanes of Bangkok, and along with the crumbling dreams of hope.