My colleague SPS Eric Chua,
Partners of the PEERS Network,
Ladies and gentlemen,
1. Tonight, we have representatives from religious organisations, social service agencies, befriender groups, ground up organisations, universities, Institutes of Higher Learning, community clubs and more. We bring different perspectives and capabilities, but we share one conviction: that no one in Singapore should have to sleep rough. Tonight, we celebrate your steadfast commitment to supporting rough sleepers. On behalf of Eric, myself and colleagues at MSF, we want to thank all of you for journeying with us.
From Coordination to Community
2. We have come a very long way as a Network. Formerly established in 2019 but groundwork actually started in late 2017, when we reached out to some of you and started exploring and understanding more deeply the challenges that our rough sleepers face in the community. Because in the past, many organisations and agencies were already helping rough sleepers but they worked individually. Efforts sometimes overlapped and there were also gaps that no one agency or organisation could fill alone.
3. That was why MSF established the PEERS Network in July 2019 — to bring Government and community partners together, coordinate outreach, strengthen referrals, and provide more seamless support for rough sleepers. From 24 partners then, our PEERS Network has grown to more than 80.
Welcome and Recognition
4. Tonight, we are going to warmly welcome 11 new partners to the PEERS Network and we look forward to working very closely with you.
5. We will also present the 5-Year Partner Awards to 12 organisations that have supported rough sleepers. You joined us in the early years of our work, and helped shape PEERS Network into what it is today.
What We Have Built Together
6. Every organisation brings something valuable to the Network. Let me just highlight two examples.
7. The Mobile Medical Clinic, run by Tzu Chi Foundation with Bless Community Services, brings healthcare directly to our rough sleepers where they are. Our 2025 Street Count found that nearly half of those surveyed had a medical condition. By going to them, you make a real difference not just to their health, but also their dignity.
8. The Homelessness Learning Forum, organised by New Hope Community Services and their partners, brings practitioners, academics, policymakers and people with lived experience together to share insights and develop solutions.
Looking Ahead
9. PEERS Network initially focused on befriending rough sleepers. In our next phase of our journey, we will do three things. First, broaden our partnerships. Second, expand our outreach on the ground. And third, support more ground-up innovation.
10. First, we will bring more partners with complementary capabilities, to make assistance more accessible for our rough sleepers. This includes, for example, extending Tzu Chi Foundation’s mobile medical outreach to shelter providers such as Catholic Welfare Services and Boon Lay Community Club.
11. Second, we will expand our outreach to rough sleepers. Our Social Service Offices (SSOs) will work more closely with our befriender groups to identify and engage rough sleepers earlier, before their circumstances become more entrenched.
12. And third, we will support ground-up innovation, working with all our partners to develop meaningful and practical solutions on the ground. That is why MSF launched the Partnership to Tackle Homelessness (PATH) Fund in April this year. I am glad that 17 projects were supported in the first application window.
a. For example, Homeless Hearts of Singapore, will organise informal community gatherings to build rapport with hard-to-reach rough sleepers.
b. While Hope Initiative Alliance, HIA, will tailor employment opportunities, from apprenticeships to micro-jobs, to help rough sleepers and shelter residents become more work ready and to achieve housing stability.
c. We are also addressing youth homelessness, by targeting the distinct circumstances that young rough sleepers face. Youth Guidance Outreach Services (YGOS) and New Hope Community Services will provide young people in transitional shelters with mentoring, family mediation, and vocational guidance — Helping them to rebuild family as well as social support networks, and to move toward stability.
13. While our Institutes of Higher Learning, recognising that some young rough sleepers are also students, our ITEs and our Polytechnics will also provide support to their students who are homeless, to help them find urgent rehousing options, such as student housing or polytechnic staff apartments wherever possible. And they will work more closely as part of the PEERS Network.
Conclusion
14. In the years ahead, MSF will work closely with even more partners – to experiment with new ways of doing things, new approaches, to strengthen what works, and deepen our collective impact. The PEERS Network embodies what we mean by "Better Starts with Us". Every rough sleeper has a story that needs to be heard, and meaningful change begins with somebody choosing to show up. I want to thank you for being that someone, week after week after week. It’s not easy work. There’s lots of love, lots of patience, lots of outreach on the ground, befriending, and working close together with one another, working in partnership with others in the PEERS Network. We will help to provide that whole chain of support all the way till housing stability. I am confident we will go even further, because of the commitment and care that all of you bring to this work.
15. So tonight, we bring everyone together and I hope you have an enjoyable evening of fellowship and friendship. Thank you.