homeless

Hungary’s government official praises homeless services but two homeless frozen to death

Budapest, January 8 (MTI) – Hungary’s homeless services system has passed the “pressure test” of extreme weather conditions, state secretary Károly Czibere told MTI on Sunday.

Czibere noted that homeless shelters have been enlarged, and said that there was still “an abundance” of beds to accommodate more people. In the provinces most shelters are full, he said, but added that new arrivals would “not be rejected”.

Speaking on public television M1 earlier on Sunday, the state secretary said that nobody had died due to the extreme cold during the past two nights.

Two homeless frozen to death?

The police didn’t confirmed the cause of death but the police officers fund two dead bodies in Budapest.

Budapest, 14th district

 

Photo: MTI

Hungary has around 15,000 homeless, 4,000 spend nights on streets

 

Budapest, November 30 (MTI) – Hungary currently has around 15,000 homeless people and 4,000 or so live on the streets at night, the head of a charity for the homeless said on Wednesday.

Péter Győri, chairman of the board of the Menhely Foundation, told MTI that between 10,000 and 11,000 look for shelters in which to stay. In Budapest, there are around 6,500 homeless and 1,200-1,300 spend the night on the streets.

Nationally, shelters operate to 85-100 percent capacity, he said, adding that in the capital there are still several hundred places available for the time being, though more shelters should be temporarily opened both in around the country and in the capital for the winter, he said.

Winter care for homeless under way

Budapest (MTI) – Homeless shelters in Hungary have started expanding their capacities to welcome an additional 1,500 people in total over the winter period.

For most of the year, homeless shelters have room to house about 9,500 people in total, while in the winter they can accommodate up to 11,100. The shelters will be operating with increased capacities until the spring.

State secretary for social affairs Károly Czibere noted last month that the government spends an annual 9 billion forints (EUR 29.2m) on caring for rough sleepers and financing homeless shelters. Out of those funds, 8 billion forints is spent on the homeless service system, 540 million forints on street services and 360 million on the expanded winter services, he said.

This year, for the first time, the government will allocate additional funds towards psychological support services for homeless people and supervision for social workers caring for the homeless, Czibere said.

According to statistics, nearly half of Hungary’s homeless — about 10,000-12,000 people — live in Budapest while the rest reside in other larger cities.

A survey conducted among Hungary’s homeless people by the Shelter Foundation in February this year found that two-thirds of them reside in the countryside and that their conditions are continuously deteriorating. Out of the 10,206 people surveyed, 3,422 resided in public spaces and 6,784 in homeless shelters.

New café campaign to give an opportunity for homeless people to start over

According to origo.hu, a new Hungarian campaign, a mobile café is to be launched in Budapest in order to provide long-term help for homeless people, an opportunity by which they might become able look after themselves.

The situation of homeless people is rather difficult: getting a job requires permanent residency, however, as long as you do not have a job it is really tough to afford and maintain even an apartment.

[button link=”https://dailynewshungary.com/two-thirds-of-hungarys-homeless-live-in-countryside/” color=”orange” newwindow=”yes”] Might be a good idea to start it in the countryside too, as two-thirds of Hungary’s homeless people live there[/button]

Luckily though, a new Hungarian company aims to change that by establishing the Tekergő Teve (Wandering Camel), a mobile, completely self-serving café, in Budapest. Thanks to its low cost of maintenance the café provides a great and unique opportunity for homeless people to change their lives.

It offers a long-term solution, a new chance instead of temporary help: wages, debt settlements, legal representation and psychological help would be ensured. Selling 50 coffees a day, for example, would result in a nice payment.

Moreover, this café could reach places others cannot, such as closed squares, areas in front of churches and festivals. The unique technology it works with enables Tekergő Teve to make 1000 coffees of its own resources, without having any troubles because of its weight.

Founders of the mobile café try to help as many homeless people as possible with the help of Indiegogo. Their further aims include the launch of a project, the Wandering Café VeloBloud, which is “a tricycle-borne café” and would be available in Budapest and in Prague. For that they are collecting the money through community finance. They have 355 USD so far.

Photo: facebook.com/bloudicikavarna

Copy editor: bm

City Assembly changes decree on homeless to expand banned areas

Budapest, August 31 (MTI) – The Budapest City Assembly on Wednesday changed the decree on homelessness to expand the number of areas where living in public is forbidden.

The decision comes after a request by the 11th district local council to outlaw homeless living in several precincts of the district. It argued that several public areas over the past two years had become regularly inhabited by homeless and this posed a threat to public safety. Other considerations for the ban were “cultural or visual”.

The modified decree was passed with 21 in favour and 7 against with one abstention.

 

Photo: MTI

Two-thirds of Hungary’s homeless live in countryside

Budapest (MTI) – Two-thirds of Hungary’s homeless people reside in the countryside and their conditions are continuously deteriorating, the head of the Shelter Foundation said on Thursday citing a recent survey carried out among Hungary’s rough sleepers.

Péter Győri said that out of the 10,206 homeless people the foundation surveyed in February, 3,968 lived in Budapest and 6,238 in the countryside. A total of 3,422 of them resided in public spaces and 6,784 in homeless shelters.

He said the living conditions of homeless people in the countryside were “just as bad” as the conditions in Budapest’s underpasses. Care for homeless people in rural areas is severely lacking compared to the care they receive in Budapest, which is why most of them choose not to move in to shelters.

Győri said the survey could not be used to determine the total number of homeless people in Hungary.

Homeless man threatening to bomb Parliament in custody

parliament budapest

Budapest (MTI) – A Hungarian homeless man threatening to blow up Parliament is now in custody at a psychiatric ward, Budapest’s chief prosecutor Tibor Ibolya said on Friday.

The 49-year-old man made two threats, one in October last year, and one on Wednesday this week, calling the emergency number 112 from a public phone booth, according to official reports. Both times he said he would set a bomb off in Parliament, citing several grievances as his motivation, Ibolya said in a statement. A Budapest district court decided to put the suspect into pre-trial detention. The decision can be appealed.

The man will be held at the Judicial and Observational Psychiatric Institution (IMEI) where he will undergo psychiatric treatment. The man is homeless and has insufficient income to provide for himself, so no other option for detaining him seemed feasible, Ibolya said. He added that the suspect needed psychiatric care, noting that he had repeated his threats in court. He is under criminal procedures in four other cases, Ibolya said.

Cooking competition hold for the homeless in Budapest

About 300 homeless people queued up at the Vasas football field to get some hot meals; the food was prepared as part of the “Hunger Games” – 1st National Cooking Competition of the Homeless” (Éhezők Viadala – I. Országos Hajléktalanok Főzőversenye). An organizer admitted that the title might seem provocative, but it can help to draw attention to the event, reports index.hu.

Kata Tóth, one of the organizers said that the idea came up because of the immigrant crisis; many people complained that while everyone is just overwhelmed by the refugees, helps them with donations and food, the homeless question gets less and less attention. Although Tóth regularly organizes events at II. János Pál pápa square where the homeless can get hot meals, she wished to hold a bigger event to draw attention to the homeless question.

The aim of this competition, according to the organizers, is to “draw the Hungarians’ attention to the country’s poor people, to the homeless crisis, to the importance of help, and to the difficulty of reintegrating these people into the society.” It also aims to gather together those organizations which help the homeless, to make common goals and get to know each other better. Although the 14 groups did not only consist of homeless people, there was at least one in every group, and a volunteer helped out the only group where all the members were homeless.  

The event started at ten o’clock and the organizers advertised it at the homeless shelters, and encouraged everyone to help either with the cooking, or with the preparation, and that they are going to have hot meals around 2 or 3 o’clock. The groups started to organize the competition on Facebook, where everyone could post what they can bring; that’s how the first three winners had prizes: people brought blankets, sleeping bags, and watches.

Gábor Iványi, parson, and founder of the Fund for Helping the Poor (Szegényeket Támogató Alap), and László Kiss, ex-chairman of the Independent Trade Union of Medical Workers (Független Egészségügyi Dolgozók Szakszervezete) made up the jury.

The participants varied greatly: all sorts of groups took part in the competition and helped the organizers, such as The city is for everyone (A Város Mindenkié), and groups, which helped the immigrants, and László Póka’s I won’t give up my home (Nem Adom a Házamat).

The organizers would like to make this competition an annual event, with more and more participants every year.

based on an article of index.hu
translated by Adrienn Sain

Photo: Patrick Sauer/
https://www.facebook.com/events/930145390408287/permalink/941841322572027/

Shelters ready to accommodate all homeless over winter

Budapest, November 3 (MTI) – Every homeless person will be able to find shelter over the winter as the facilities in charge are set to expand capacity to accommodate an additional 1,500 people, the director of the Shelter Foundation, a civil group specialising in homelessness services, told the daily Magyar Hirlap on Tuesday.

Zoltan Aknai said that on the coldest days, the foundation will be likely to receive hundreds of emergency calls about homeless people in need of immediate help.

The paper noted that the government spends an annual 8.5 billion forints (EUR 27.2m) on caring for rough sleepers and financing homeless shelters.

Civil groups providing care for homeless people have recently started preparing for the winter and the government has decided to extend financing to 83 organisations providing street outreach services, allocating 540 million forints for the cause.

Some 7,500 homeless people are estimated to be using day shelter facilities each day, the paper said.

Dispatch centres will also be busy during the winter, as their job will be to continually monitor the number of homeless in the street and keep a close eye on shelter occupancy rates, it said.

Nearly half of Hungary’s homeless, about 10,000-12,000 people, live in Budapest while the rest reside in other larger cities.

Kuria decision on homeless ban requires district councils to act, says municipal council

Budapest, January 21 (MTI) – A decision by the Kuria, Hungary’s supreme court, annulling sections of the municipal decree on banning homeless from living in the street in certain areas of the city will require district councils to act on the ruling, the municipal council said on Wednesday.

Tuesday’s official gazette Magyar Kozlony reported that the Kuria annulled, effective May 31, certain sections of the decree specifying the locations where the ban is effective.

The court said that in the case of several public areas selected by the district councils, the reason for their “protected value” cannot be identified.

The annulled sections affect areas proposed by the local councils in Budapest’s 2nd, 4th, 9th, 10th, 13th, 14th, 16th, 17th, 21st and 22nd districts. The Kuria ruling does not affect the public areas proposed by the 6th, 11th, 18th and 20th district councils.

The municipal council approved on November 14, 2013 a decree stating that rough sleeping is against the law and classed as a minor offence in selected areas.

Photo: pixabay

Protest at parliament against “persecution of the homeless”

Budapest (MTI) – Activists of a group dubbed “The City is for All” staged a protest at parliament on Friday against the “persecution of the homeless by the authorities” and set up twenty tents next to the Christmas tree standing on Kossuth Lajos Square.

The protesters demanded that lawmakers should pass legislation that guarantees the right to housing and develop proper policies for enforcing this right, the group said in a statement.

They also demand the utilisation of vacant properties, the development of a comprehensive social home rental system and a radical increase in support for accommodation. At least 300,000 people need affordable housing today, which is around twice the capacity that local council-owned properties can accommodate, they added.

According to the group, the ruling Fidesz party has since 2010 made the persecution of rough sleepers into a government policy.

Photo: MTI

Budapest Takes Concerted Action to Help Homeless in Underpasses

Budapest, November 20 (MTI) – Social workers, public area inspectors and the police will take week-long action day and night in Budapest’s most frequented underpasses to help homeless people in need, the Budapest municipality’s law-enforcement directorate said today.

The aim of the action is to ensure that no homeless person in the capital is left without care, the directorate said in a statement. Everyone should receive help to ensure that they spend the coldest days and nights in a warm place, it added.

The aim is to prevent hypothermia and to take action against “deviant persons to ensure that frequented underpasses are kept clean and in order…”

At the beginning of November, Hungary’s supreme court, the Kuria, ruled that a section of the 2013 municipal decree restricting the use of public spaces by the homeless is in breach of the law.

“Rough sleeping cannot be punished unless it poses a danger to society,” the Kuria said in its ruling.

The homeless decree was referred to the Kuria by the ombudsman for fundamental rights, Laszlo Szekely, who argued that the decree had established an unreasonably broad range of areas where homeless living was banned. He said the municipality had overstepped its powers outlined by a 2012 law on minor offences when issuing the decree.

The Kuria will make its final decision on several parts of the decree after the Constitutional Court prepares its review. It has already annulled a part of the decree and asked the municipality to change its regulations by the end of the year.

The municipality of Budapest spends 1.5 billion forints (EUR 4.9m) on providing subsistence to the homeless.

Photo: www.csabaimerleg.hu

Homeless Herb Growers in Kecskemét

A few homelesses became herb growers, who aquired their knowledge in the context of a EU programme, sokszinuvidek.hu reports.

The organization in Kecskemét of the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta opened the Komplex Homeless and Rehabilitation Center by Danish funds 3 years ago. There are homelesses, unemployed, Roma and many others here. The goal is in each case is to help them to live independently in the long run.

Éva Rigóné Kiss, head of the local Charity Service says that the recipients have to do the household chores like in the normal life. Gyógyít-lak is the name of the programme, which offers herb grower course for homeless people. In the end of the course, they have to do an exam. During the programme, they get housing benefit.

According to sokszinuvidek.hu, the homeless have a very hard time in the cases of family and work. The staff of the center want to make them believe that the are useful members of the society. 15 people got the herb grower certificate. Some of them also found partners, so they can close their past together.

Beáta Barkóczi, „spokeswoman” of the group also finished the course. She is showing the planted herbs. The woman lives in Matkópuszta. Previously, she worked at an office, but she lost her work. Now, she is working here.

Sándor Szépe is another trained gardener, who worked as a salesperson before he came here. He will be employed to September, but he hopes that he could stay and work here after that, too, sokszinuvidek.hu says.

The people have 5 hectares of land, beyond herbs they grow poppy seed and pumpkin. Éva Rigóné Kiss says that they want to create an exhibition garden and produce herbal teas. For these plans, they need money, so they will apply for more grant.

based on the article of sokszinuvidek.hu
translated by Becsi

Photo: Ujvári Sándor

What Does The Homeless Hungarian Lottery Millionaire spend his money on?

Homeless Hungarian Lotto Millionare has already bought ten houses, index.hu reports.

Related article: 
Dream Story: A Hungarian Homeless Is The Hungary’s Biggest Lottery Winner 

First, László and his wife rented an apartment and then they bought it. After that, he bought all of his children a property, then he bought a family house, where they are living currently, and a holiday house in Balatonszárszó. Now he owns ten houses and he underlet four of them.

According to index.hu, László said to Bors that he founded an Ltd, and he wanted to deal with apartments. His story became world-famous, Guardian interviewed him as well. It turns out that László Andraschek was living in a slum near Győr with his wife and they could not pay the rent on time. They had a lot of debts.

Andraschek had bought the lottery ticket from his remained coins and he was going to a training for alcohol addicts, when he jumped into the lottery to check the numbers.

 

translated by Attila Bécsi 

Dream Story: A Hungarian Homeless Is The Hungary’s Biggest Lottery Winner

Unemployed, in debt and facing another year living on the streets in Hungary, Laszlo Andraschek spent his last remaining coins on a lottery ticket, South China Morning Post reports.

South China Morning Post said, now the formerly homeless man has a choice of accommodation around the world after becoming Hungary’s biggest lottery winner with a prize of about £1.7 million (630 million Hungarian forint).

According to South China Morning Post: Andraschek, whose win last September went unnoticed until he made a significant donation to a hostel for the homeless this month, said buying the ticket was a chance decision at a railway station on his way to Budapest for a workshop for recovering alcoholics.

Andraschek has since bought flats for each of his three children.

Read more HERE.

Photo: www.femina.hu

‘It is possible to provide twice as many places for the homeless’

If needed, the Ministry of Interior is ready to double the number of the places available for homeless people. Currently there are 10 thousand places ready to be used by those in need but there will be no underpasses opened. – said Minister of Interior Sándor Pintér in an interview. He also touched upon the changes in public employment, the preparation of the law enforcement organizations for the winter months and the second round of the consolidation of local governments.

The Minister stated that there is a possibility for everyone to receive proper care and to avoid freezing. He mentioned that in the coldest period of last year there were approximately 10 thousand people who needed shelter. The Disaster Management Authority was appointed to estimate further possibilities, as a result of which it can be stated that there is place for further 10-11 thousand homeless people, if needed.

According to the Minister of Interior NGOs should not start a “war of numbers” whether there are 10 thousand, 11 thousand or 300 homeless people. There will be as many places as needed. He also added that there will be a team of social workers, police men and ambulance officers responsible for finding a place for those who are affected by the problem.

It will also be possible to include homeless people in the system of public employment but there are some who do not wish or are not able to contribute. Minister Pintér stated that the system of public employment will change slightly during winter. Approximately 100 thousand public employees will receive training, continue with their intermittent studies or start agricultural education.

Further 104 thousand people will continue work in the usual manner at the forestries and water management authorities; will carry out maintenance work at the Hungarian State Railways or at the territories close to the borders. The number of public employees has risen from 10 thousand to 127 thousand, and regarding the whole year it will reach 300 thousand. The aim of the Ministry is to employ 200 thousand people simultaneously next year.

The Minister also mentioned that public employment programs are not only going to be checked locally, but on ministerial level as well, so that they can make sure that the local governments act regularly. He added that this year’s financial support for firewood is twice as big as last year – HUF 2 billion. This amount of money is enough to provide firewood for 120 thousand families.

Sándor Pintér explained that as winter is approaching the country, he wishes to carry out a routine in which traffic authorities, the police and the Disaster Management Authority would cooperate and model the possible closure and opening of the borders and other actions that need to be performed in the event of extreme snowing. The Minister referred to the second round of the consolidation of local governments as a new possibility. He indicated that many local governments have faced difficulties because they did not have enough financial means to fulfil the newly received state tasks.

The distribution of tasks was solved by the new law for the local governments; the first round of consolidation has been closed, the second round will concern 222 local governments according to estimations. By the end of December 2012 all offices of district officers were filled and as a result the subjective security has increased – said Minister Pintér. He emphasized that there is a significant amount of money secluded to provide constant police presence in the draft of next year’s budget.

This includes the so-called rolling actions and the work of those police officers who are on duty around the schools. In connection with the international NSA spying scandal he said that according to government decision, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is appointed to handle the issue. He added, however, that the secret services cooperate with the partner organizations, as a result of which Hungarian authorities “have asked the proper questions and are waiting for the replies.”

Ministry of Interior

Winter Protection for the Homeless

In order to protect homeless people and to define the tasks that need to be carried out during the winter months, Minister of Interior Sándor Pintér held talks with Mayor of Budapest István Tarlós, Deputy State Secretary Erika Zupcsán from the Ministry of Human Resources, Government Commissioner Imre Pesti, Chief of Police Károly Papp and Vice-President of the Hungarian Maltese Charity Service Miklós Vecsei.

The parties concluded that there are currently 11 000 places available for homeless people who wish to spend the winter months under more human circumstances and while receiving proper care.

The Minister declared that, if needed, the Ministry of Interior would provide further places with the participation of the Disaster Management Authority so that no homeless people will remain without care over the winter due to a lack of free places.

The Ministry of Interior is cooperating with the City of Budapest and with other governmental institutions and charity services to avoid the development of life threatening situations caused by the cold or a lack of proper care.

The cooperating institutions will do their best to ensure that the information reaches those who are affected. In order to provide proper winter care, homeless shelters will receive an extra HUF 372.9 million in funding.

Ministry of Interior