(P) Corporate solidarity to help homeless people in Bucharest

On Wednesday, 16 December 2015, between 13:00 and 15:00 hours at the North Railway Station, Bucharest, the Casa Ioana Association, together with volunteers from the British and American Embassies, the Faculty for Sociology and Social Work (Bucharest University), local businesses and other volunteers, will serve hot meals and provide clothing and other essential items to some of Bucharest’s homeless population. Helping to serve the meals at the event will be the British Ambassador to Romania and Stefan Frank, the General Manager of the InterContinental hotel in Bucharest. The event is supported by the General Directorate of Social Assistance for the Municipality of Bucharest. The 300 hot meals are a gift from the InterContinental Bucharest, whilst other companies and many individuals have donated cash, other food to take away, hot drinks and warm clothes, as a simple gesture of solidarity with those experiencing homelessness. Romania is at, or near, the bottom scale on almost all EU measures of poverty and social exclusion and this has been comprehensively reported by the EU, World Bank, UNICEF and many other observers. In addition to the 40% who are at risk of poverty or social exclusion, 29% are estimated to be severely materially deprived, which is almost three times more than the EU average. The new composite Social Justice Index, which scores EU countries based on poverty prevention, equitable education, labour market access, and other factors ranks Romania 27th. Only Greece, in its state of despair, ranks lower. Despite the general estimate of approximately 5,000 homeless people living on the streets of Bucharest, it is impossible to assess accurately the number of people sleeping rough in the Capital. Many others live in overcrowded or inadequate housing conditions whilst others stay temporarily with friends. Relationship breakdown, lack of job security and low wages, coupled with a severe lack of affordable housing are significant causes of homelessness. Increasingly, families are losing their homes and being forced to live on the streets, particularly those experiencing domestic violence and who have no one to turn to for help.

Once living on the street, many homeless people find it difficult to earn enough to find a decent place to live. Despite between one third and one half of homeless people being in employment, most are employed in the black economy and in jobs which do not provide job security or pay enough for basic living expenses. Others are underemployed, meaning that they cannot work enough hours to pay their bills. A lot of homeless people have two or three jobs at a time, but a small number of small income jobs do not help very much either. Without legitimate jobs, they find themselves outside of the social assistance and health systems. Ian Tilling, President of Casa Ioana Association says that decent employment and affordable child care are vital ingredients for escaping life on the street.