Mr Wong was asked to leave the shelter because he had verbally threatened its caretaker, said Mr Ravi Philemon, manager of the New Hope Shelter for Men.

He said: 'We take such errant behaviour very seriously, and if a tenant doesn't co-operate with the staff, it can pose a serious problem.'

Mr Philemon said that earlier this month, Mr Wong had refused to hand over the keys to his room when the caretaker asked for them.

A misunderstanding led to Mr Wong threatening the caretaker with an umbrella.

Mr Wong claimed he had been provoked first, saying the caretaker had shouted and spoken to him rudely.

He also said that, earlier in the week, the caretaker had accused him wrongly of not doing the chores at the shelter.

Mr Philemon said the shelter's residents fall into two broad categories: Ex-offenders who have nowhere to go and who stay for free, and men like Mr Wong who, for personal reasons, are homeless - they pay rent to the shelter.

Ex-offenders stay under a government-funded programme.

The other group is not funded.

Said Mr Philemon: 'Like any landlord, if a tenant doesn't pay rent, we will have to ask them to leave.

'We tried to help Mr Wong by getting in touch with his siblings, but they said they don't want anything to do with him and told us not to call any more.

'We tried to get him a chauffeuring job some time ago, after he lost his taxi licence, but he declined the offer.

'We have sent him the letter reminding him to pay rent, but if he really has difficulty and has nowhere to go, we will try to help if he approaches us.'

This article was first published in The New Paper on Nov 25, 2008.