Homeless shelters offer 5,549 temporary places in Hungary

Homeless shelters in Hungary can accommodate a total of 5,549 people for temporary stay according to August data, business daily Világgazdaság said on Friday.

A total of 707 people are on waiting lists, with over 500 waiting for temporary placement in Budapest shelters, the daily said.

The government published a nearly 360 million forint (EUR 1.1m) tender to cover the rising costs of providing care for homeless people over the winter. It also provides a 50 million forint emergency limit for organisations helping the homeless, the human resources ministry told Világgazdaság.

In a procedural change starting this winter, the human resources minister announces a

“code red warning” when the daily average temperatures fall below -10 C or rise above +27 C.

Buildings normally not involved in homeless services will then be opened to house those without shelter, the ministry said.

As we wrote last November, Hungary currently had around 15,000 homeless people and 4,000 or so live on the streets at night.

Source: MTI/vg.hu