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 !