Magazine: Greece through the eyes of the homeless

A homeless woman was given a camera and asked to document life on the streets of Athens.

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Athens Homeless Top 17,000 as Housing Benefit Reaches First 1073

A housing benefit ranging between 70 and 220 euros a month will start to be handed out from Friday, initially going to just 1073 individuals throughout the country, Greek Alternate Labour and Social Insurance Minister Theano Fotiou informed Parliament. At the same time, she added, a study carried out by the University of Crete estimated the number of homeless in Athens alone at 17,720 people, many of them sleeping on the street or in their cars. She said that a subsidy to cover rent will eventually be given to 30,000 households, since only a third of the roughly 90,000 applicants could be catered for at this time. Fotiou, who was replying to a question tabled by Potami party MP Spiros Lykoudis, underlined the huge task confronting state services as the humanitarian problem was constantly mounting, given that more than half a million people were currently struggling or unable to service their loans. Despite “heroic efforts,” she added, they were unable to cope with the problem due to both a lack of funds and insufficient care structures. Fotiou said that a more precise picture will emerge at the end of the week about how many of the 300,000 applying for various kinds of assistance under the provisions of the humanitarian crisis bill will receive benefits. (source: ana-mpa)

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UCF students support plan to move all Greek housing on campus

Plans are in full swing to move all Greek housing onto the campus of the University of Central Florida. Some fraternities and sororities are located off ...

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Major Greek Cities Preparing Shelters and Aid During Ongoing Cold Snap

The municipal services of major Greek cities on Monday said they were fully ready to provide support to the homeless during the upcoming cold snap, which is forecasted to hit Greece in the next few hours. In Athens, the municipal services are on alert to offer support to the homeless and those in need. The Athens Municipality Reception and Solidarity Center (KYADA) and its 16 cooperating institutions and organizations are already organizing the distribution of blankets and food, escorted by medics and social workers who will inform those willing to be transported to heated facilities on the necessary procedures. It should be noted that by today two heated municipal buildings will remaining open 24 hours a day. In addition, there will also be a 24-hour phone line for Athens residents, at the four-digit number 1595, and the Athens Municipality Reception and Solidarity Center (KYADA) will be open 24 hours a day. In Thessaloniki, the central municipality has already mobilized additional indoor heated spaces which will operate until Monday, January 5 in order to protect vulnerable social groups, especially the homeless. In Piraeus, due to the severe weather conditions, the municipal Guesthouse for the Homeless “I Anakoufisi” is already hosting people facing housing problems, while the municipal gym “Panagiotis Salepas” is hosting the homeless overnight and will continue to do so until there is an improvement in the weather.

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Athens Social Housing to Host Greek Families in Need

Procter and Gamble (P&G) announced its participation to the Municipality of Athens’ program “Network of Social Housing” that aims to support the most vulnerable social groups by housing families or individuals who are homeless or live under inadequate conditions. The “Network of Social Housing” is a new, innovative program, undertaken by the City of Athens in order to provide short-term accommodation and support to families through charge-free, organized, specialized and personalized services to help them avoid social exclusion and reintegrate them into society within 6 to 12 months. P&G’s contribution in the program includes the radical reconstruction of the social housing building, further enhancing the welfare of the families to be housed in the so-called “House of Optimism,” but also the voluntary offering of the company’s employees for various additional services that may be needed in cooperation with the city’s services. In addition, through the program’s website the company has created an application that invites the public to participate in the initiative by donating just 0,05 euros by sending an SMS. The “House of Optimism” is located in Neos Kosmos, near downtown Athens, Greece , and has eight fully furnished apartments, while the families that will move in have already been chosen and will be allowed to stay for six months, plus another six if they are unable to move on at that point. During the program’s presentation, P&G Hellas General Manager Hans Dewaele underlined that “the problem of homelessness is serious and multidimensional, and dealing with it requires everyone’s mobilization. As a part of this society, we felt the need to join our forces with many other agencies, organizations and individuals in order to face it. Our decision localizes our global strategy to create the sensation that a home provides. Besides, the concept of home and family has a special significance for P&G, as each product we create focuses on the home and family care. We feel honored and touched by the opportunity given to us to work with the Municipality and support this very innovative program. Our hope is that this house will provide families with the ability to start dreaming again.” On his behalf, Athens Mayor Giorgos Kaminis said that the city of “Athens became embroiled in an unprecedented crisis, condensing problems and harsh twists in the lives of our fellow citizens. In addition, the city faced the largest percentage of homelessness in the country. The Municipality made the support of those in need a priority, while working with civilians, the private and public sector for an effective social safety net and solidarity. The ‘Network for Social Housing’ is one of the most innovative social programs. Thanks to the participation of P&G, six months after the first social housing program, a second one will operate in Neos Kosmos, giving us the opportunity to welcome and support more families in need. We stood and will always stand by the citizens. In collaboration with public and private entities, we undertake initiatives and actions to tackle homelessness as well as other compelling everyday problems, for a decent and better life.”

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Florida pastors face 60 days in jail for feeding homeless

Nicholas Simmons, 20, of Greece, N.Y., warms himself on a steam grate with three homeless men by the Federal Trade Commission, just blocks from ...

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Council to consider moratorium regarding Greek housing

CHARLESTON -- It may be a while before residents see any new Greek letters on housing outside the Eastern Illinois University campus. Today, the ...

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Guardian: Athenians Once Enjoying an Ordinary Life, Now Homeless

The Guardian, England’s leading newspaper, has recently featured a story by contributor Jon Henley, who walked the streets of Athens and described what he experienced, finding that the homelessness issue in Athens remains more visible now than ever before. Henley met some of the new homeless of Athens, who talked about their life before and after the crisis, their wanderings of the streets of the Greek capital, and their nightly quest for safe hide-out in which to sleep. Athens “is one of the world’s most ancient cities, home to Plato and Aristotle, with its recorded history stretching back some 3,400 years. The “cradle of western civilisation,” the “birthplace of democracy,” Athens remains a major commercial hub of southeastern Europe. But it is also, these days, capital of a country that has suffered, perhaps more than any other, from the 2008 global financial crisis and the strain is showing: streets are crumbling; a third of shops are shuttered; signs shouting Enoikiazetai (For Rent) are everywhere. Through seven years of deep recession, Greece’s GDP has sunk by a quarter. The official unemployment rate is 27%, including 52% of under-25s. That means some 180,000 (probably many more) of Athens’ 670,000 residents – and maybe more than 1 million of the 4 million-odd people who live in the greater Athens urban area – are now without work,” Henley points out. According to Ivan Juric of the “John S. Latsis” Public Benefit Foundation, which funds nearly 50 social programs for homeless people, homelessness does not reflect a city’s socio-economic status. Munich, for instance, ranked by Monocle magazine as the world’s most livable cities with the highest quality of life, also suffers from mass homelessness. EU’s Federation of National Homelessness Organizations (FEANTSA) has even argued that the term “homeless” should be redefined to include all those living in temporary housing: with friends or family, in abandoned buildings, or even in their own flats, but without water or electricity because they are unable to pay their bills. In Athens, one of these is 53-year-old Athenian Vassilis Dimopoulos, who used to earn up to 3,000 euros per month until his employer folded in 2008. “The industry was already in trouble and I saw it coming. I sold my home in 2007, though the small profit I made is now gone. For a time, I lived in a place belonging to my cousin; she didn’t want rent but I couldn’t afford electricity. Then she needed it back. I was six months on the streets,” he said. Now Dimopoulos lives in a Red Cross hostel, selling Athens’s street paper “Schedia” (Raft). “It’s very hard to find a job now. In sales, my field, hundreds apply for every post,” he added. Today, approximately 1,000 people are sleeping on the streets of downtown Athens. NGOs raise that number to 1,500, and by FEANTSA’s definition, as many as 15,000 Athenians can be classified as homeless. Most homeless are men, half of them non-Greeks. 60% of them are addicted to alcohol or drugs and two thirds have physical or mental health issues. Jenny Varvagianni, an Athens public official, claims that the capital of Greece and other urban centers have been pushed beyond a socio-economic crisis into a humanitarian crisis. “What’s bringing us to our knees are the people who had jobs, had their lives in order, were supporting their families, educating their kids… Regular, middle-class couples who lost both, or maybe just one job, and are now on the brink. The new poor; the new homeless. Family support is strong in Greece, so very few of the new poor are actually sleeping on the streets. But many have had water or electricity cut off or face eviction at any moment because they’ve fallen so far behind with their rent or mortgage,” she said, concluding that “we’re afraid: how long can this last? People’s pay and pensions have been cut, everyone is more and more squeezed, landlords too. It’s going to get worse before it gets better.” As FEANTSA points out, in the face of an estimated 25% increase in homelessness since 2009, Greece still largely has “no integrated strategy for homelessness” and tackles it in “an indirect and incoherent way.” “The handbook just really needs to change here,” Juric explains to The Guardian. “The approach is almost like alms-giving, when what’s needed are constructive, efficient, evidence-based social programs, based on best practice. Many countries are on the way to resolving this… but I’ve seen more palpable change in places like Nepal and Ghana than Greece.” In numbers, according to a recent report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), 17% of the Greek population is currently unable to meet their daily needs for food. Approximately 30% are living below the poverty line. Unemployment benefits in Greece are €360 a month for a year (€200 thereafter); to qualify for benefits, one needs to have worked 125 consecutive days during the previous two years. And once they are out of work, they lose – almost invariably – their health insurance. Overall, according to OECD, Greek health spending is now 25% less than it was in 2008. At the moment, more than 90 people are waiting to become “Schedia” street paper vendors. Christos Alefantis, the former journalist who founded “Schedia,” claims that he has had to hire out-of-work architects, electricians and journalists, most of whom are now residing in hostels or squats, or even in their own flats but without water or electricity. 49-year-old vendor Theotokis Vonitsanos had been a waiter, builder and courier, earning €1,000 a month, before he found himself jobless in 2009. He now lives in his mother’s apartment, often without utilities. 39-year-old Yannis Kotsos, a trained infant teacher, owed a year’s rent to his landlord before he found work at “Schedia.” “Even today, I owe four or five months. It’s only by the generosity of my landlady that I’m not on the streets. And she really is generous – my rent is her only income,” he said. “Fueled by economic meltdown, the near-collapse of most state provisions and a widespread official unwillingness to seek more creative solutions with what few resources remain, Greece’s homelessness problem looks set to get a lot worse before it starts getting any better,” Henley concluded.

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Nevada Greeks give back to local homeless population

Blakeman estimates the entire Greek community put together more than 10,000 winter survival and hygiene kits for the homeless in our area, the exact ...

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Greece: Homeless used in VIP taxi scam

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Police have busted a phony VIP taxi service in Greece that was using the bank accounts of homeless people to collect deposits from cab drivers.

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Crisis: Greece, govt launches housing and welfare program

(ANSAmed) - ATHENS, SEPTEMBER 15 - Greek Ministry of Labor has announced that it will present today the details of its ambitious "Housing and ...

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Crisis: Greece, govt launches housing and welfare program

(ANSAmed) - ATHENS, SEPTEMBER 15 - Greek Ministry of Labor has announced that it will present today the details of its ambitious "Housing and ...

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ISU Opens $25M Greek Housing

Indiana State University has dedicated its first new student housing in more than 40 years. The $25 million Reeve Hall can accomidate 360 students ...

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One Night in Athens Homeless Shelter

Doctors of the World in cooperation with the Municipality of Athens, who provided the space, and other non-governmental organizations, opened a night shelter for homeless people, providing beds, a warm bath and a place for them to wash their clothes. It is a place where the homeless can feel safe. The project was funded by the European Social Fund. Greek newspaper Ethnos published an article after journalist Marina Ziozou was hosted in the shelter for one night and was able to speak with some of the homeless people who live there, the majority of which are Greeks. Ziozou spoke with 53-year-old Maria, 63-year-old Yiorgos, and other shelter residents who had been left homeless due to unpaid loans or laid off from their jobs. After listening to their personal stories, how their lives had changed from one moment to the other, ending up living on the streets and sleeping on the sidewalk, it is easy to realize that just one tiny moment can change a person’s whole life. The experiences of these people affect us all, because we could end up in the same situation in a heartbeat. The number of unemployed people rises along with the number of homeless people, who at the moment are more than 40,000. They are people who used to live on a decent income but are now trapped in a dead-end situation. Maria Isaakidou, 53, used to work in a hotel, but when the crisis first hit Greece, the business was forced to shut down. Then she used to take care of an old man in order to have enough money to pay the bills. However, when that man passed away, she couldn’t afford to pay her bills and was left homeless. Thanks to the kindness of strangers, she survived for almost six months. Since then, she has been living in the shelter. “I want to show the world the efforts of the people who work at the shelter. I want to thank the Doctors of the World, who have embraced us and are taking care of us.” Maria is now looking for a job but most employers prefer to hire younger girls. “I am not elderly. I want to live with dignity,” she said. Dimitris used to work in a research firm for many years. However, when the company let him go, he was force to live on the streets. “When I lost my job, I lost everything I had worked for all those years. House, money, relatives, friends. At first, some of my friends took me in, but in the end I found refuge at the airport. At least there, I knew I was safe. This is temporary, I am looking for a job every day,” said the man who is determined not to give up. Yiorgos, 62, was working in a travel agency until two years ago. He used to have his own travel agency but he shut it down because of the financial crisis. Even though he has been homeless for two years, he has not given up yet and has not lost his sense of humor. “The rent, the bills, all the basic necessities were hard for me to cover. My first day on the streets was a nightmare. I did not sleep at all. I could not believe that something like that had happened to me. Yet, what we believe can’t touch us, turns out to be closer than we thought. However, I accept my life as it is,” he said. According to Artemis Lianos, volunteer with Doctor of the World and head of the homeless shelter in Athens, “the issue of homeless people concerns us all. On one hand, we must fight for the effective implementation of the constitutionally guaranteed right to housing, and on the other hand, we need to consider that tomorrow we may be homeless as well…”

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BGSU's Greek housing falls

Demolition of BGSU's Greek housing along Wooster Street is '‍exciting' and '‍sad' at same time, said Panhellenic Council president Tiffany Mitchell, ...

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