homelessIn

form

atIo

n aId project

Budapest

ház

ház, noun [hahs]‣ a place where one lIves; a resIdence.

‣ a valued place regarded as a refuge or place of orIgIn.

‣ an envIronment offerIng securIty and happIness.

‣ the structure wIthIn whIch one lIves.

Everyone should have a home. But in many countries this is not the case and help on the part of the state and also the fellow man is still immature.

We are Trixi and Miriam, two erasmus students from Germany. We were warmly welcomed in this country and appreciate the culture and love the charming capital Budapest. However, if you open your eyes through the city, they fall quickly to the homeless people. Too many them have to suffer extreme poverty and unworthy life without fulfillment of human basic needs.

Following the introduction of new legislation in 2013 the situation become worse: Local Authori-ties make it a criminal offense to live in public spaces. These public spaces include underpasses, bridges, playgrounds, much of the city center and Budapest's world heritage sites: the banks of the River Danube and the Buda Castle historic area. So, are homeless displaced more and more from the city and even in winter, the situation is getting worse and people freeze to death in the street: because theyhave no opportunities.

At least at this point, everyone shoulderstand feel Obliged to act interpersonal. we are trying this for our part in this project. We are driven by empathy, an extensive research and the experience value of many involved institutions and first responders. Our tool is appealing, clear communica-tion design and compact processed information. We passed through manageable prepared texts, personal interviews and clear facts visualized a basic insight into an important issue. Our main target group are just strangers and visitors of Hungary for which this background knowledge should be existential.

authors &context

background

The definition of the homeless can vary from country to country because homelessness is essentially a cultural definition based on concepts such as “adequate housing”, “minimum community housing stand-ard” or “security of tenure” which can be perceived in different ways by different communities. For certain policy purposes, some people living in institutions may be considered homeless persons. For individuals not in private or institutional households, the following two categories or degrees of homelessness can be considered: Primary homelessness: This category includes persons living in the streets without a shelter that would fall within the scope of living quarters. Secondary homelessness: This category may include persons with no place of usual residence who move frequently between various types of accommodations (including dwellings, shelters, and institutions for the homeless or other living quarters). This category includes persons living in private dwellings but reporting “no usual address” on their census form.

A homeless person can be broadly defined as a person who, because of the lack of housing, has no other option than to sleep:• rough or in buildings which were not designed for human habitation, • in emergency centers, or night shelters,• in emergency accommodation in hotels, guest houses,• in hospitals due to a lack of decent shelter,• in accommodation temporarily provided by friends or relatives because of the lack of a permanent place to stay. In practice, it is difficult to identify, and then to collect information on homeless people.

For this group, it may be possible to make an estimate using different sources of information, such as, capacity of emergency shelters and tinformation provided in social housing applications.

defInItIon ofhomelessness

introduction

Around the age of system change, homelessness was known as a particular social problem. And then the leaders of the country for the firs time in decades started to deal with the problem. The increase of housing expenses, elimination of dangers of work avoidance and shutting down of many accommodations of skilled workers for several reasons or used for other purposes- all this led to a large increase in the number of homeless people. Some other sociological factors played a very important role of growing the rate of homelessness in Hungary. These were, and nowadays also are, poverty, unemployment, conflicts in the family, housing problems, alcohol-ism and drug usage. Dealing with the homeless people is the government’s responsibility to be taken care of. The state leading government executes it through the local governments, with the usage of tendering system to support local civic and public organisations, which create the social care services for the homeless people. Homelessness became a social problem from a politcal issue.

Nowadays, the homeless situation is generated by different sociological causes, which recently has stronger and stronger effects. These causes are impoverishment, unemployment, difficulties in finding new homes, losing homes, and alcohol/drug consumption. These causes lead directly to conflicts inside the family and then indirectly to homeless-ness. There are some cases in which the person, who becomes homeless, was treated in a welfare institution after long or short imprisonment and then they cannot integrate in the society because of themselves. They can’t integrate not because of the lack of help from the social care institution, but because of their antisocial, not law abiding behaviour.Homelessness is a state, resulted from multiple element processes. The economic factors play an important role in the evolution of this state, but these are not the only causes. The structure and conformation of the society, state of different groups in the society, and also the individual causes can have a great effect in the final results.

hIstory ofhomelessness

In hungary

There were many argues that criminalising homeless people is an inhumane and ineffective policy response and a violation of human rights. In a letter to the Hungarian Minister of State for Social and Family Affairs the president of FEANTSA said, “we believe that the amended Hungarian Constitution substantially increases the risk that homelessness will be criminalised; paragraph 3 of article 8 of the amended Constitution re-opens the possibility for municipalities to criminalise homeless people who have nowhere else to go.”

Many campains try to raise awareness about the criminalisation of home-lessness, and Beers went on to point out that, “research and experience in other countries clearly demonstrates that the criminalisation of homeless people is always ineffective as a policy and, what’s more, expensive.”

The Hungarian Social forum reported in February of this year that 28 homeless people had died in the first two weeks of the month, as a result of over-exposure to the elements, though only three of the 28 who died were sleeping rough.

A recent survey carried out by the European Commission of Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion says that the recent financial crisis in the EU has led to a sharp rise in homelessness in the Union, altering the profile of the homeless population. More young people, children, migrants and other disadvantaged minorities and families are increasingly at risk of homeless-ness resulting in a high social cost of not tackling the homelessness issue throughout the continent.

The EU directive for Member States under the Social Investment Package encourages countries to introduce long term homelessness strategies and policies at both national and regional level to ensure the prevention and early intervention against homelessness.

In 2013, the Hungarian government spent 30Mio EUR on homeless services, a rise of 6Mio EUR on the previous years figure.

polIcy purposes &natIonal factors

need to know

Employment and occupational activities are an important element of social integration. The lack or loss of employment is often one of the trigger factors that lead to homelessness. At the same time, the (re-)integration into employment or occupational activities can play a key role in bringing a person who is homeless on a pathway out of poverty and social exclusion. It helps establishing a social network, gaining experience, improving skills, developing self esteem and moving towards financial independence. This has a positive effect on other areas of life as well, such as the mental well being of the person.

People who are homeless very often belong to the people fur-thest away from the labour market. They face multiple barriers in accessing employment. These obstacles are personal such as lack of work experience, mental ill health or a history of substance abuse. In addition, there are many structural barriers such as lack of affordable housing, lack of public transport, lack of training possibilities etc. Finally, people who are homeless are confronted with societal barriers such as stigmatisation, prejudices and racism.There are significant disparities both between and within regions in terms of employment and unemployment. However, regional data do not properly reflect the real disparities in the labour market, which have even increased further at the level of micro-regions. This is the labour market environment where homeless job seekers should find a job, while their chances might be hindered by several other factors such as the disadvantages of the given settlement, their age, qualification, contingent disability or Roma origin.

Regular social benefit: on expiring the income substitute benefit and unemployment benefit those unemployed who couldn’t find a job during the period of unemployment services with the cooperation of the labour market organisation, can apply to the local government for regular social benefit. (This is the most frequent financial support among homeless people. Since this amount is extremely low (~95 EUR) they supplement it by taking occasional jobs. )

laBour market mInImum Income

educatIon standarts

10 facts

35.000 homeless In hungary

most homeless are have a lack of educatIon

115 cold deads eachwInter

homeless people from 50-60 prefer the streets, rather than any kInd of InstItutIon

40% of the hungarIanhomeless lIve In Budapest

lIfe expectancy Is aBout46.5 years

sInce 2012 homeless aren't allowed to stay In almost the entIre cIty center

average age Is 38 years

the numBer of home-less women douBled to 25% of the whole homeless socIety

34% agreed to remove Beggars from the pedestrIan areas

most homeless are have a lack of educatIon

homeless people from 50-60 prefer the streets, rather than any kInd of InstItutIon

40% of the hungarIanhomeless lIve In Budapest

1. Right to workThe right to work is declared by the Hungarian Constitutions. Unfortunately this in itself is still not enough for the rights below to come true.

2. Mutual support between employment, homelessness and prevention policies

3. Integration of employment dimension into homelessness strategies

4. Prevention of housing exclusion and exclusion from the labour market• active labour market policy measures and targeted support promoting the employment of groups at a disadvantage in the labour market (e.g. discounts from the contributions payable),• elements that encourage work in the system of social benefits,• measures that aim at raising the retirement age centre,• training and education programs promoting employability of the lower skilled population,• cutting back on labour market discrimination,• improvement of employees’ health,• measures aimed at geographic mobility,

5. Employment schemes for people who are homelessA national pilot project targeting the employment of people who are homeless will be attached to the supported housing program. The aim of the program: To facilitate the employment and labour market integration of homeless job seekers by getting them employed by NGOs operating in Budapest as well as cities of county rank.

6. Definition of employmentAre all employment schemes targeting people who are homeless included in this definition? If a scheme is not recognised as employment (e.g. mean-ingful occupation), are there any negative consequences for the person participating in this scheme?

support &BenefIts

possible solution

support &BenefIts

7. Social benefitsIndicating in how far entitlements vary according to the status of the person (national, EU national, third-country national, refugee) and evaluate their effectiveness in helping people who are homeless to move towards employ-ment.

8. Unemployment related benefits• Job-search allowance• Job-search benefit• Intensive job search benefit• Training support• Reimbursement of travel expenses (from one city to another)• Disability pension: Entitled are those who lost 67% of their employability because of poor health, as well as physical or mental disability and their health status is not expected to improve within a year, have the appro- priate length of labour relations and do not work on a regular basis or their income is significantly less than it was prior to their disablement.• Disability allowance• Housing benefit• Social rent support• Debt management service• Temporary benefit: Support for those in an extreme life situation threatening their subsistence, or those permanently struggling with subsistence problem.• Old-age allowance: Subsistence allowance granted to the elderly having no income.

9. Compulsory participationAn organisation appointed by the local government (typically the family support centre) as well as the individual granted benefit jointly prepare an in-tegration plan, in which they lay down their mutual obligations with respect to, e.g., participation in consulting, in a preparatory program for employ-ment, in various forms of training and education, as well as the conditions of employment in public work or community work, and cooperation with the labour center.

laBour market

habitants hungary

30% unemployed70% In joB

In the 1990s, following the transition shock, Hungary was one of the leading economies in Central and Eastern Europe. It had a high share of foreign direct investment, its economy was modernizing and there were favourable convergence trends, all of which manifested itself in a relatively high standard of living and good economic prospects. But this trend ground to a halt in the first half of the 2000s and the country’s leading position gradually disappeared. The reasons were many and varied, but the high budget deficit and the uncontrolled spending are important elements.

While the budget deficit was increasing during the 2000s and the economy was deteriorating, the signs of labour market and social downturn were slow to manifest themselves. The modest increase in GDP and the (sometimes steep) rise in real wages up to the mid-2000s suddenly ceased when the economic imbalances finally led to severe economic restrictions in 2007.

In mid-2010, the new government, with its two-thirds majority in parliament and its preference for the ‘upper-middle class’, introduced a flat tax rate in the expecta-tion that it would be accompanied by economic growth. From 2001, unemployment increased slowly, but it soared during the crisis, and got stuck at over 11%, while employment dropped sharply and remained low.

30% unemployed

support &BenefIts

10. Support schemes that help homeless people to find a job

11. Support after job placement (counselling, helping to set up a bank account etc.)

12. Life skills trainingBMSZKI opened IT centres in seven locations, where more than 1000 service users can have access to Internet. Steps towards the information society can have considerable role in easing exclusion. This is a kind of knowledge that can open several other doors towards the general population. Service users not only use the Internet, but also become skilled in using various software.

13. Cooperation between different stakeholdersHomeless service providers in the country cooperate with some institution, such as some private companies, other NGOs, local headquarters of Labour Centres, local governments and in some cases schools and universities.

14. Data collection and research

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Basic social services: Catering, Home help providing, helping families, community-based services, helping addicts, psychiatric patents low-threshold services, support service, signalling homecare, day care (elderly handicapped people, addicts, home-less), street social work.

Welfare institutions:In case of welfare institutions, they can provide nursing care, rehabilitation, residential or temporary placement services either for disabled people, or for addicts, or for retired people or for homeless people.

Problems with the current social system: Certain services, provided by different institutions may be cancelled because of the other’s effect. The service they provide represents their own institutions interests. These institutions expect that the family who is in trouble should find them and then adapt to their rules and regulations. They make the necessary action, by finding and helping the family just in crisis situation. These institutions have been centralized. The various helping processes help solve some prob-lems for the family, while they divide the family members apart. Therefore it decreases the family cohesion.

The advantages of the integrated social system: They handle, perform and evaluate different services in different kind of processes as well. They coordinate the processes according to the needs of the family. They plan and execute the services, offered for the families in order to prove the best for their lifestyle and family life. They try to solve the problems before it would led to crisis situation. They plan the different helping procedures regarding the family as a whole unit.

In the next Chapter we show just a small selection of the largest institution. There are much more dedicated helper to pay esteem which we will list in the back of this info brochure.

InstItutIonorganIsatIon

servIces

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educatIon & health

education of thehomeless PeoPle

40% completed prImary educatIon

29% some qualIfIcatIons wIth completed vocatIonal traInIngs

20% secondary educatIon

06% un-completed prImary educatIon 03%

hIgher educated

health of thehomeless PeoPle

33% drug dependency 33% mental Illness

33% sItuatIonally dIstressed

BMSZKI

The BMSZKI is the biggest organization in the capital of Hungary, in Budapest and in the Middle-Europe region still the one of the largest organizations. They are active in several centers of Hungary.The BMSZKI pays attention to the consequences and the statistics what can be found on their webpage like a document about the last 40 +20 years related to the homeless people in Hungary, and analizing the causes of being out in the street. The BMSZKI made statistics about the number of the homeless people in Budapest compared to homeless situation on the countryside.

Györi Péter Organisation

"From the streets to housing"This organization had some really important programs for the homeless people to help them get back to the social world, and make it easy for them. In 2007 Györi Péter released a plan according to integration.The aim of this program is to help the people who live in the streets to be a real mem-ber of the society again. In this program the flexible transformation of the BMSZKI is another goal to get more homeless people from the street to the institutions and give them the relevant services and prevent their recession.

The second conception by Györi Péter (2011)The common aim is to prevent homeless people to get frozen. A new aim is to provide them better circumstances. A medium-term aim is to cease being roofless.

Vándorút (Fregolization)This program is about moving the social workers between the institutions to make the process of learning to work with homeless people more effective. This is for the development of the workers’ skills and to be more experienced and flexible.

local InstItutIon& theIr actIons

Familiar facesThis program is for lowering the feeling of distrust, or mistrust so that homeless people can trust and be more willing to go in the accommodation. ‘Vándorút’ is part of the program ‘Familiar Faces’ ,this is the first step on the way of getting to know the homeless people and make them a bit more familiar with the social workers.

FETFET is a program to move the clients between the institutions, this makes the placement easier, because there were planned to be a communication structure with e-mails, if somewhere there is a free place that information must get to every institution to make the placement of the new homeless people possible.

Extended streetIn this program, there were planned to be shelters for the night, transitional lodg-ing and the employ former homeless people who now have roof over their heads to serve as an example to keep on hoping.And those people are very important who have good communication skills, and are enthusiastic.

local InstItutIon& theIr actIons

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haBItants & homeless of hungary

haBItantsBudapest 45%

haBItantscountrysIde 60%

homelesshungary 30%

homelessland 55%

homelessBudapest 45%

The number of inhabitants of Hungary was 9.999.000 in August 2010. The number of inhabitants in the capital of Hungary, Budapest was 1.733.685 in January 2011. Since 1981 number of the births is a lot lower than the death rate, therefore the population of this country is continuously decreasing. The country has the annual growth of -0.17 %. Regarding the structure of the population it belongs to the aging nations. According to some estimation the number of Hungarian people will be 8.490.000 by 2050. At the moment the under fifteen generation is 14.93 %, from fifteen to sixty-four is 68,22% and the over sixty-four generation is 16,85% of the overall population of Hungary. The ave age life expectancy is 74, 79 years.

maltesecharItyservIce

The Hungarian Maltese Charity Service

The Hungarian Maltese Charity is making its activities in the Karpatian Basin in Hungary. Its 20 years long past have created solutions for problems in the social and health care sphere, these are recognised part of the entire system. In the Humanitarian field they collected several experiences with Romanian and Yugoslavian aid projects. Their task is to give their experiences to those who are in the need. They have foreigner friends from whom they get help, especially in the first years. This leads them to participate in international activities, however this is not their main task.

Although there are only twenty groups of the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta in the region, their services are accessible in many other settlements, so the aid activities are avail-able to eight-hundred thousand people altogether. Groups of volunteers are dealing mainly with collection and distribution of clothing, but almost all of the groups have some special activities, like operation of a club for addicts, delivery of food, blood pressure checking, etc.

Here are only a few of their programs:

Annual Report (2010)Their annual report in 2010 included their activities from the Flood to the social work in Roma colonies. The social workers at the night shelter called “The Train” has been aiming for years to give guidance to homeless people with some income on how to economize. In 2010 they rather needed assistance, regretfully, in finding work. The most effective element of care strategy in 2010 was that social workers tried to direct the homeless back to their original surroundings, where living conditions were better suited to get out of a homeless style of living.

The Happy Street Boys (2010)This is the band of the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta formed by homeless musi-cians. They try to use music as a tool to help finding breakout points from homelessness.

Winter shelter on the bus station (2012)A new night shelter opened by the MMSz in Budapest, the Volánbusz Ltd. gave its places of their educational center. In the foundations of MMSz there are252 permanent and 52 temporal places. They never reject anybody, they make places I the corridor also in some cases if needed.

maltesecharItyservIce

40 tons of cover (2012)20 000 covers was offered to the MMSz by the Hungarian Army what is 40 tons. Most of them are used in the crisis period in temporary institutions or institutions with extended number of homeless people. This amount seems much, but some of them get worn out so quickly, so that it is not worth washing it which proves that this amount is needed.

Bikes are collected in Szeged (2013)They also collected bicycles for the homeless. Co-operating with medi-cal doctors and teachers they organised a health prevention and health protection course. They were active in renting medical appliances, hospital beds and advertised their activities within the town on leaflets distributed by homeless people.

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Where stay the homeless of budaPest

different institution in budaPest

15% on the street75% temporaryly In dIfferent accomondatIon

InstItutIon for homeless people

In Budapest

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33%

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Ilona (58)

I'm homeless since Dec. 17, 2010. Ultimately chose poorly. I got an offer and I accepted it, I had a chance, which I did not. I went wrong.

What was the option?In August 2009 left the workplace, but the Lord has sent me help before, but I did not accept.

What was it exactly? A man, a man sent by God, whom I had I could go.

I see. The workplace, what happened?Twenty-eight years pulled off the rail, just taken apart the company Izzet-collected dust, and my job disappeared. In the meantime, I've been in Veszprem, rail munkásszállója was, but it was too flat. I have a family anyway, two great son, 82-inch and 83-born, the husband ate two.

See a way out?It is very difficult. Incidentally it may be easy to fall into this situation. You can watch the people believe studying them to sink. A story not seen in three years. For example, once a man just got here two days later, there was no dress. You see, two days lost everything. Very quickly the people down there, and if it does not help, you can not get out. If someone is referring to itself, it fired.

‣www.homelesstofbudapest.hu

interviews

Attila (38)

I was born in Pécs, Mohács raised in state care since my childhood. I do not know my parents, I do not know who they are, know why have left me. I was seventeenth years old when I got out of the state care institute. I did not want to go into GYIVI did not want to go missing, I did not want to be a junkie, I did not want to be a jailbird, I wanted to do something with my life. I made a lot of school, even as a ward of the state horticultural school, after-care assistant, then a shop assistant. I'went to Budapest to find a job, find accom-modation and to live an independent life, that it should not be pushed on anyone. But the truth is that i drank a lot. I could not stop. You know, it was that depression, anxiety, tomorrow, after tomorrow, I do not want to die at the street, I do not want to be trampled by society ...

What's on the wagon now?I hung up. Now I live in Malta charity service, I am a public employee, I work, my income is just not enough to be able to take out an apartment.

Where do you work?I'm at the BM, laborer, packed in a fire station, clean the house, things like that. It should be criminal record, so I am blameless!

What's next?I want to learn more in the medical profession, and if you get a higher degree, it might have been easier to get a job. If you have a permanent job, then I'm going to claim housing benefit, so perhaps I'll be able to rent an apartment cooperative. You know, I'm not giving up.

‣www.homelesstofbudapest.hu

lIst of InstItutIon

hajléktalanokért közalapítványpublic foundation for the homelesswww.hajlektalanokert.hu

andrea szabókozalapitvany@hajlektalanokert.huszobi utca 3, 1067 Budapest, hungary(po Box): hu - 1380 Budapest, pf. 1155.t: +36 1 261 77 04f: +36 1 262 10 21

hajsZolt egyesületwww.refomix.hu

péter Bakosavar u. 3.9027 györ, hungary t: +36 52 530 817f: +36 52 530 818

magyar máltai szeretetszolgálathungarian maltese charity servicewww.maltai.hu

tamás szentkeresztymiklós u. 32, 1033 Budapest, hungaryt: +361 3888760 / +361 3689299f: +361 3684283

and contact

menhely alapítvány (shelter foundation hungary)www.menhely.hu

Zoltan aknaiBaross utca 41, 1082 Budapest, hungaryt: +36 1 338 4186, +36 1 266 1901f: +36 1 267 6171

salvation army of hungarywww.udvhadsereg.org

capt. andrew morganBajnok utca 25, 1063 Budapest vI, hungaryt: +36 1 332 3324f: +36 1 373 00 10

tizek társasága

Boróka fehérBaross u. 41.I.2, Budapest 1082, hungaryt: +36 1238 9527f: +36 1238 9502

In Hungary there are lots of homeless people, with really diverse background and possibilities to move on. The tendency of them is consider-ably good, meaning that they are informed in most cases and looking for help at the these institutions, which can efficiently solve their problems. Unfortunately the social system is not working as efficient as it should be and the political regulation (at this time) is questionable and destructive.

In order to help the homeless people, there are several types and really big number of organizations. These foundations try to do their bests to save lives and to help the roofless people back to society. The common activities of the institutions in Hungary are mostly to give roof above the people, who are in the need of that, and give them a place where they can have a rest, what means shelter for the people on the street. These institutions usually organize programs and activities to give food to the people whether they are poor or have no home. These are rather around the holidays, mostly in Christmastime.

Another important activity is to collect clothes and other stuff needed in the cold winter. We are not the only one working on this topic. More or less these other organizations organize similar programs but we try to concentrate on it with another approach to get a bigger or other target group.

To help the people and fight for their rights, to help them become real part of the society as everyone else in the country or help them back to the life should be our goal!

support &IntentIons

conclusion