Every other day, Mr Yip Choong Weng, 76, walks to the rubbish collection centre near the Kreta Ayer Community Club to take a bath using the water hose there.

He has been homeless since 1988 when he sold his four-room HDB flat to settle gambling debts.

His wife went missing 20 years ago and he has no children or relatives to count on. He stayed with friends for the first few years but now spends his nights outside the Kreta Ayer Community Club.

He has made friends with the elderly residents who play chess there. They buy him meals and one even bought him a bicycle.

When night falls, he sleeps in an upright position, legs propped up on plastic chairs, worried that the authorities might chase him away.

Occasionally, he sleeps on a parapet, using cardboard pieces as a mat and newspapers as a pillow.

He does various odd jobs at hawker stalls but does not have a steady income. In good months, he earns up to $400.

In 2006, at the urging of a residents' committee member, he applied for a rental flat but was rejected by HDB, which needed proof that he was no longer married.

As he did not have a marriage certificate, it took him almost two years to get the paperwork done. Early this year, he re-submitted his application and is now waiting for a flat.

'I look forward to having my own house so that I can finally have a place to shower and sleep. I've appealed so many times and it's still taking so long,' he said.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on August 31, 2008.