The network of civil society organizations fighting homelessness informs citizens that the Secretariat for Social Protection of the City of Belgrade, in cooperation with the Belgrade Red Cross, has opened a temporary shelter for homeless people for the first time at the address of Dr. Milutina Ivkovića no. 2, Autokomanda. This type of accommodation service was sorely lacking in the existing social protection system; therefore we welcome the decision of the Secretariat as well as the accessibility of this temporary accommodation service because accessing and using it does not require long bureaucratic procedures but takes into account the urgent need of our fellow citizens who do not have a roof over their heads.
At the same time, we invite the Secretariat to expand the capacity and open new temporary accommodation shelters, because the existing capacity of 20 beds proved to be insufficient already in the first days after the opening. In addition, we call on the competent authorities to introduce the services of overnight shelters and day centers as standardized social protection services, and not as ad hoc solutions, because the need for them is obvious throughout the year.
Currently, the shelter provides accommodation for homeless people every day from 8:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m; it provides rooms, and bathrooms with showers.
We believe that the accessibility of overnight shelter accommodation is a good model and could be applied also to the admission to the Shelter for Adults and the Elderly, which is the only institution of this type in Belgrade offering temporary accommodation for up to six months to homeless people. Currently, access to the Shelter for Adults and the Elderly is hampered by a series of bureaucratic procedures that come before the social needs of our fellow citizens.
Moreover, it is necessary to work on the establishment of such accommodation services in other cities in Serbia. Currently, according to the data of the Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, there are around 13-16 shelters with insufficient capacity throughout Serbia.
We would like to emphasize that accommodation services are a form of basic and minimum measures to protect the rights of citizens living in a state of extreme deprivation, and we call for a systematic addressing of the causes of homelessness.
ADRA
Youth Center CK13
PIN
Klikaktiv
Caritas
A 11 – Initiative for Economic and Social Rights
