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Fostering systemic transformation: start with individuals

Benjamin Sin: “What I aim to achieve is to have a ripple effect, much like acupuncture, finding the focal point and applying pressure to drive transformation throughout the entire system.”

For years, Benjamin has been dedicated to engage in housing issues related to community development, being particularly empathetic to housing problems. He noticed that public social services often fail to provide temporary accommodation for families and learned from a family service centre that nearly 10% of service users had housing needs. The unexpected pandemic sparked a brilliant idea in Benjamin’s mind – to reach out to hotels and explore the possibility to transform vacant hotel rooms into emergency accommodation for families in need.

In November 2020, through “Project One Roof” under JC InnoPower Fellowship for Teachers and Social Workers programme, he collaborated with two hotels located in Tsuen Wan and Yau Tsim Mong districts. They utilised the vacant hotel rooms to provide three months of accommodation for families in need and vulnerable groups. The participating hotels would receive rent at cost price and were requested to treat all service users with dignity and without discrimination.

The project has supported two Nepalese families who lost their homes in a fire accident in Yau Ma Tei in 2020 and move into hotel accommodation. Initially, the families experienced symptoms such as post-traumatic stress disorder, sleepwalking, insomnia and other conditions after the accident. In the first month, Benjamin provided emotional support services and social welfare assistance. He also helped them in finding new housing, new career and a fresh start, aiming to get them reintegrated into the community.

Benjamin hoped to see similar services rolled out across the city. He quoted a hotel manager he had worked with, who said, “There are 800 hotels in Hong Kong. If each hotel offers two rooms to those in need, a strong support system and buffer will be formed.”

Living under the system, we always want to bring about social change and drive systematic transformation but have no idea how to begin. Benjamin was deeply impressed by the reminder from a trainer of JC InnoPower that “We are the system.” The so-called “system” is composed of individuals, and as each person begins to change, the entire system gradually adapts and changes naturally – because we are inherently part of the system. Benjamin shared, “What I aim to achieve is to have a ripple effect, much like acupuncture, finding the focal point and applying pressure to drive transformation throughout the entire system.”

Did you know?

Launched in 2016, JC InnoPower Fellowship for Teachers and Social Workers programme aims to build the innovative capacity of teachers and social workers, ultimately contributing to the professions’ long-term development. The programme has provided training to a total of 99 teachers and 104 social workers, establishing a unique and innovative training model in Hong Kong.

Information updated to Mar 2024

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