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 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 Current typologies of Gender distribution of homeless people according to Samusocial Romania (run on a sample of 82 persons) homeless people from Romania take into consideration criteria such as: Gender and age Medical or social problems Men 88, 4% Women 11,6% 5000 in Bucharest The typology of The categorization based on a homeless people according classification of medical or to Samusocial Romania: social problems: Families with many members Young people alcoholism drug addiction mental disorders The elderly 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 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 * 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. 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% Ranking of most solicited services provided by Samusocial in 2010 Gender distribution of Samusocial beneficiaries Women psychological service 17,20 % social service social bath medical care 11 29 Men 82,80 % 44 48 Samusocial Romania : 100% flexible structure of 80% volunteers a total number of 20 60% employees of different professions: 40% doctors social assistants psychologist employment counselor pharmacist drivers Very satisfied 43% 20% Satisfied 47% 0% Satisfaction degree of Samusocial Romania 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 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 !