To cope with the steadily growing number of homeless people, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry will build seven more shelters in fiscal 2002, raising to 12 the number of facilities the government will build in two years.

The ministry says the 12 shelters will be able to accommodate about 2,700 homeless people nationwide.

With unemployment in Japan at a record 5 percent, the government is worried that those who lose their jobs will also lose their homes.

In addition to the shelters, which will be open to all homeless without restrictions, the ministry plans to build three job-hunting facilities in fiscal 2001 specifically to help employ the homeless so they can lead independent lives. The government has already built 11 such facilities.

The ministry plans to ask for a 1.2 billion yen budget for this purpose.

Two of the seven new prefabricated shelters are planned for Tokyo, one for Nagoya and the rest at sites yet to be determined.

The homeless are allowed to sleep in the shelters for as little as one night or a maximum of six months. Case workers and volunteer helpers will comb the city to recruit shelter users.

Most of the homeless are being found mainly in Tokyo, Osaka and other major cities. According to a ministry survey compiled in October 1999, the number of homeless totaled 20,451, a rise of about 4,200 from March that year.

Within the 23 wards of Tokyo, there were about 5,700 homeless people in August 2000, according to the government, a 1.6-fold increase over the past four years.

The growth of the homeless population has been accompanied by an increase in violence.

In June and July 2000, one homeless person died in Tokyo and another in Osaka after being assaulted by youth gangs. In July this year, some homeless people in Osaka were injured after being set on fire.

In a survey taken in Tokyo in 1999, about 40 percent of homeless people polled said they had been harassed by passersby.