On a public pier in Kwun Tong on the eastern part of Hong Kong’s Kowloon Peninsula, about 30 street sleepers have formed a makeshift village. Their “home by the sea”, built with cardboard and wood, stands in defiance of a government sign that reads “unlawful occupation is not allowed”. Volunteers from Christian New Life Association, a drug treatment centre, have expanded their work to help the street sleepers, who know that at any moment they could be forced to move.