Post on 16-Dec-2015
SOCIAL EXCLUSION OF
HOMELESS PEOPLE IN ROMANIA
Table of contents
Introduction
Level and structure of homeless people exclusion
Causes and consequences of homeless people exclusion
Government role
Institutions and their actions
Other activities against homeless people exclusion
SAMUsocial Romania
Conclusions
According to the Law Concerning The National Social Assistance System,
homeless people represent a social category made of persons who:
live on the streets
live temporarily with their friends or acquaintances’ place
cannot afford to rent a place
are in danger of being evicted
those who are in penitentiaries or institutions
INTRODUCTION
Other categories of persons who are at
risk of becoming homeless or who live in
inappropriate conditions:
people who live in shelters or institutions
those who have insecure tenancy arrangements or
who face eviction
persons who live in caravans, campsites or in
overpopulated improvised dwellings
Level and structure of homeless people exclusion
Current typologies of
homeless people from
Romania take into
consideration criteria
such as:
Gender and age
Medical or social
problems
Gender distribution of home-less people according to
Samusocial Romania (run on a sample of 82 persons)
Men 88, 4%Women 11,6%
5000 in Bucharest
11000 – 14000 at national level
The typology of
homeless people
according to
Samusocial Romania:
Families with many
members
Young people
The elderly
The categorization
based on a classification
of medical or social
problems:
alcoholism
drug addiction
mental disorders
poverty and urban vagrancy
Causes :
The two types of causes which determine homeless people
exclusion endogenous and exogenous. Under this heading one
can subsume: Family conflicts The economic crisis People with mental disorders Physical illnesses Frauds The forced retrocession of nationalized houses Evictions Exclusion from economic, public, social life
Causes and consequences of homeless people exclusion
Consequences
Alcoholism
Deviant behaviour: drug addiction, self destructive
attitude
Homeless people can fall prey to robbery and sexual
violence
Mental illnesses: anxiety and depression
Other health issues: skin conditions, tuberculosis
The state provides vulnerable individuals with access to fundamental rights
such as: a dwelling, to medical and social care, to education, a job
The local public administration authorities are responsible for:
social services for homeless persons
emergency shelters in winter time for the persons living on the street*
*The Law Concerning The National Social Assistance System, Ch. IV, section 1
Government role
The National Action Plan in the Area of Social Inclusion
The National Programme for the employment of socially excluded people
The “Social sector development project” financed by the World Bank with USD 3 million in the field of social services development and diversity
The ‘Homeless children initiative’ project, financed by the Council of Europe Development Bank with EUR 5 million
The national interest program Eradication of the social exclusion of homeless people by creating
emergency social centres.*
Objectives :
a) prevention of social exclusion of homeless people
b) creation of emergency social centers
c) identification and evaluation of the persons who live on
the streets;
d) survey, on the basis of real data, the number of
homeless persons, as well as the percent of solving the
existent cases.
*The Government Decision No. 1171 from 24 November 2010
The Ministry of Labor, Family and Social Protection
increase inter-institutional cooperation in the field of social
inclusion
creates studies and researches in order to analyze the current
situation
organization of training sessions for the personnel of the local and
national administrations holding responsibilities related to the
promotion of social inclusion.
Institutions and their actions
Local city halls
one shelter dedicated to homeless people
provide accommodation in hospitals in emergency
situations
Bucharest City Hall
almost 1000 places in 15 shelters
the construction of a 600 places shelter (26th of
January 2012)
Non profit organizations
Concordia
Casa Ioana
SAMUsocial Romania
OTHER ACTIVITIES AGAINST HOMELESS PEOPLE EXCLUSION
Samusocial Romania:
* night and day mobile teams :
- provide medical care
- help homeless people to obtain the identity
card
* a psychiatric mobile team offers:
- psychotropic medicine and treatment
- special counseling
* “ Socio-professional inset Workshops” :
offer the homeless people a job based on a contract concluded for a determined period
the job consist in collecting and reconditioning computers and printers.
* “ Gazeta străzii “ –
“The newspaper of the
street” - the first publication
from Bucharest where readers can
find articles conceived by
homeless people. The newspaper
is distributed for free but has also
one reserved place on the website
of the organisation :
www.samusocial.ro.
“Ending Homelessness”
a project run by Casa Ioana, a non profit organization from Bucharest
exhibitions of statues having the size of real human beings
AIM : raising awareness through art.
Apprenticeship schools
a project managed by Concordia,a humanitarian organisation from Romania
teaching young people different kinds of crafts
AIMS :
providing young people with a diploma recognized in the European Union
help them find a job
‘Samusocial Romania’ is the main non profit
organization that has as an objective providing assistance
to homeless people living in Bucharest who are facing
social exclusion.
Age distribution of Samusocial beneficiaries
40-49 - 32, 98%30-39 - 22,15%20-29 - 17,07%50-59 - 17%
Samusocial Reports
4844
2911
Ranking of most solicited services
provided by Samusocial in
2010psychological servicesocial servicesocial bathmedical care
Men 82,80 %
Women 17,20 %
Gender distribution of Samusocial bene-
ficiaries
Satisfaction degree o...0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Very satis-fied 43%
Satisfied 47%
Samusocial
Romania : flexible structure of volunteers
a total number of 20 employees of different professions:
doctors social assistants psychologist employment
counselor pharmacist drivers
Starting 2009 we can find the Romanian
organization online on: www.samusocial.ro
The NGO also has a blog :
http://www.samusocial.ro/blog/
Samusocial Romania Facebook page :
http://www.facebook.com/SamusocialRomania
“Homeless people don`t disappear, they just transform themselves”.
2010
Conclusions
A closer collaboration between the local and national authorities
To tailor the current legislative framework
More monitoring bodies which should survey the implementation of
the strategies aimed at reducing homeless people exclusion
Raise awareness by means of campaigns
Thank you for your kind attention !