Joint Campaign to Help Athens’ Homeless

The City of Athens, in collaboration with four Greek NGOs, will launch a campaign in order to help the homeless of Athens and enable their social integration. The initiative, described by Athens’ mayor Giorgos Kaminis as “a social experiment,” is being funded with 918,000 euros in European Union structural funding. The City of Athens will collaborate with Klimaka, Doctors of the World, Praksis and Equal Society. These organizations have experience dealing with the homeless,whose number is increasing  due to the current crisis in Greece. Athens City Hall will announce the launch of a social housing program similar to those already implemented in other European countries, where homeowners offer unused properties for the accommodation of homeless people. The Hatziconstas charity Institute has donated an apartment block in the center of Athens. An overnight hostel operated by the NGO Doctors of the World  is already accommodating 50 people at a time. According to an aid worker, each visitor can stay a maximum of five days in a row at the hostel, adding that applications for residence are submitted to the offices of Klimaka. Praksis day centers in Athens and Piraeus host about 3,754 people. As reported, half of the applicants are families, a third live on the streets, while a quarter have homes but face eviction. Official data shows that the number of homeless in Greece amounts to 30,ooo people. However, it is estimated that the actual number is much higher.

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