Our Desk | Are the McSleepers lovin’ it?

Lynzy Valles

The phenomenon of McSleepers has grown incredibly in the city’s neighbouring regions, having a six-fold increase on the figures of five years ago.

These residents, dubbed McSleepers or McRefugees, spend their nights sleeping in 24-hour McDonald’s outlets across the neighboring region – which is a similar state to what can be found in Macau.

This is even though in 2015, Hong Kong’s social welfare department called on the government to pay closer attention to the homeless following the death of a homeless woman who had been sleeping at a 24-hour McDonald’s outlet.

Such an incident pushed the government to impose rent controls and build homeless shelters.

A recent study conducted by Hong Kong’s Junior Chamber International (Tai Ping Shan) showed that there was a total of 334 people sleeping in the giant fast-food chain during June and July.

Most of these culinary refugees had one main reason behind such a move: high rents and high electricity bills.

The survey showed that 57 percent of the survey participants admitted to have a job, while 71 percent have owned or rented flats, yet most opt to stay in the 24-hour restaurant as it has the air conditioning, reliable WiFi and free water.

Other reasons included the comfort and security at the fast food chain, followed by high rents, conflict with family members and substandard housing.

This phenomenon does not only happen in both SARs but also elsewhere, including in Singapore, the States and the UK.

Here in the city, I often see them after around 11 p.m., where a few elderly people are comfortable napping at Rua do Campo’s McDonald’s, with an empty tray in front of them, which I suppose they had used to carry a Filet-O-Fish and a cup of tea.

In a report published by the Times in 2016, a staff member of the chain said that it does not mind when its customers sleep at its restaurants.

Although it is not really clear why they opt to do so, McDonald’s has also served as a place for small gatherings, which include group study sessions and chitchats.

Even if it is past midnight, there will occasionally still be a group of people occupying a large space to conduct some sort of meeting or gathering.

The restaurant has kind of created a comfortable environment for those who prefer to consume food in an affordable food chain and stay there until the wee hours of the morning.

I think reliable data on this could help foresee the social problem that lies within such a community – especially in such an affluent city.

Thus, this kind of data should also be worked on in Macau for the public to be more aware of such situations and not to just see this as something usual and normal.

Data would help us to see where this stems from.

Although I suppose the figures in Hong Kong soared higher during the past two months due to the summer weather, thus opting for free air conditioning at the restaurant, I do not think that a similar reason lies behind Macau’s McSleepers.

Thus, such data should actively be gathered and made accessible in the city – just like in Hong Kong where they constantly conduct such research – for the region’s social welfare department to be aware of what is actually behind the reason for these elderly residents’ choice of sleeping in fast food outlets.