Piotr Olech

 

 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

It is undoubtedly a great honour for me to be here as one of the lecturers. The honour is even greater since I find myself among the persons, groups and organisations renowned for their work on social exclusion.

The topic of my speech is the problem of social exclusion in the context of homelessness in Poland. I represent the Pomeranian Forum in Aid of Getting Out of Homelessness, Polish organisation that constitutes a platform of co-operation on the issue of homelessness between two sectors: the sector of NGOs and the sector of public institutions. The Forum comprises over 30 organisations and institutions from the Pomerania province in Poland.

 

At the very beginning, let us consider the reasons why homeless people are socially excluded. At this point I would like to present you with the criteria that have been adopted by Polish non-governmental organisations with regard to terminology.

 

Socially excluded people are those who due to their life situation are not able to fulfil their basic life needs on their own

and who find themselves in a situation that leads to poverty

or that prevents or limits their participation in professional, social and family life.

 

Analysing the definition, we may easily come to a conclusion that the problem of homelessness is clearly incorporated in the notion of social exclusion. What is more, we may say that the exclusion can lead to homelessness.

 

Poland is a country with almost 40 million of population. It is estimated that over 4 million of Polish citizens (9.5%) live below the extreme poverty level (we could said the MINIMUM OF EXISTENCE), and about 23 million (57%) below the social minimum. The data has been taken from the reports by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy.

As far as the number of the homeless all over Poland is concerned, only rough data can be provided. Having conducted a socio-demographic research in the Pomerania province, which is one of 16 Polish provinces, the Pomeranian Forum has estimated that the number of the homeless in Poland may reach around 50 thousand. However, it has also been estimated that further 50-70 thousand people can face the threat of homelessness.

 

As regards the Pomerania province, the results of the research, which involved counting of the homeless, show that there are at least 2,144 homeless people in the province. The research entitled “The portrait of the homeless community” was conducted within a few hours on the same day in all the districts and counties of the Pomerania province.

The research involved participation of more than 100 institutions and organisations.

 

Here are the results of the research

POMERANIA PROVINCE – 12 December 2001

 

The number of the homeless people staying in

day centres for the homeless                                        1038

 

The number of the homeless people staying in

non-habitable places                                                  957

 

The number of the homeless people staying in

hospitals, medical care centres                                     39 

 

The number of the homeless people staying in

penitentiary institutions                                                        110

 

General                                                                                    2144

 

The data, and especially the number of the homeless living in non-habitable places, reflects the large size of the social exclusion of the homeless.

 

The system of support for the homeless

 

Poland has adopted the Act on Social Welfare, according to which every district is obliged to provide every of its citizens with food, shelter and clothing.

In order to fulfil their obligations resulting from the act, the districts should establish Social Welfare Institutions - responsible for the realisation of the tasks related to social welfare.

The institutions may either establish their own centres for helping the homeless

or sign contracts with non-governmental organisations that provide such services.

In the Pomerania province, over 80% of the centres that support the homeless (nightshelters, day centres) are run by non-governmental organisations.

Thus, in 80% of the cases the obligations of the districts with regard to the homeless are fulfilled by non-governmental organisations.

This shows to what extent the districts and the state have shifted the responsibility of supporting the homeless onto non-governmental organisations.

 

In the Pomerania province there are about 40 centres that provide support to the homeless. They are run by over 30 different organisations and institutions, which differ in their range of experience in helping the homeless, their philosophies and methods of work.

The goal of the Pomeranian Forum in Aid of Getting Out of Homelessness is to integrate them, to form a coherent, yet not uniform, system of support for the homeless.

The Forum initiates and co-ordinates the co-operation in establishing the standards, models and methods of work with the people “without roof over their heads”. 

The results of the co-operation are the standards that are applied by all the centres – members of the Forum.

At the same time, we implement the programmes and models for overcoming homelessness worked out by the Forum.

 

For example

Methods of work with the homeless

 

The process of overcoming homelessness based on the hierarchical systems of institutions for people who have good prospects of overcoming homelessness

 

  1. Nightshelters (very low standard, basic social work)
  2. Day centres (higher standard, social work, therapy, socialisation, work)
  3. Transition housing (protected housing) – learning independent life, monitoring
  4. Social housing – gaining independence, help in need
  5. Support groups, communities –psychological support in crisis situations

The system is currently being implemented in a few large cities in the Pomerania province.

 

Long-established homelessness and extra-institutional homelessness

 

  1. Care centres for the homeless – for people who due to certain reasons (disability, old age) are not able to become independent
  2. Street workers – contact with the homeless staying outside the centres
  3. “Heated sites” – situated in locations where the homeless gather (railway stations)
  4. Food and clothing distribution centres
  5. Information centres

 

Other forms of the activity of the Pomeranian Forum in Aid of Getting Out of Homelessness include:

 

·        monthly meetings of the Forum, substantive consultations, opinion-giving, organisation of trainings, workshops, conferences and seminars;

·        publication of periodicals on homelessness, e.g. “Homelessness with no fear”, “Information Guide”, “The problems of homelessness in Poland”;

·        and a widely understood co-operation with the media in this regard.

 

Finally, a short summary

 

In order to prevent social exclusion of the homeless, to enable effective overcoming of homelessness, and to limit the range of the problem - beside legal solutions, financial means and the activity of particular centres and institutions - it is necessary to create a coherent local systems of intersectoral co-operation,

We could say more create a system of support for the homeless that would be common to all the centres in a given region. We now that characteristic feature of homelessness is migration.

So such a solution would make it possible not only to prevent homelessness but also to provide more professional and more effective assistance that suits the local needs.

 

The system can be established only by a representative group – an intersectoral coalition of organisations helping the homeless – whose aim is to create a coherent and reliable system of support.

 

 

Wishing you effective discussions,

I thank you for your attention