The number of homeless people in Prague is increasing. Often these are people who had routine jobs and housing, anthropologist Petr Vašát points out. Ivan Douda, a psychologist at the Drop-In Foundation, also confirmed the increasing number of people on the streets. There is a need to improve communication and cooperation, agreed Renata Zajíčková (ODS), Mayor of Prague 5, and Petr Hejma (STAN), Mayor of Prague 1.
“Every day, I am contacted by citizens who live in the area around Anděl and the adjacent parks. The situation is unsatisfactory. The number of people who are in this area is higher than before, ” said Renata Zajíčková (ODS), the mayor of Prague 5. She added that drug addicts also appear there, but they are not necessarily homeless at the same time.
“Of course, we are concerned about the center of the metropolis, where there is a high concentration of homeless people or drug addicts. We are trying to eliminate this phenomenon in a targeted way. The priority is to provide peaceful housing and also to help organizations that help these people, ” Mayor Petr Hejma described the situation in Prague 1.
The increasing number of homeless people is also due to the coronavirus situation. “The number of people who find themselves on the streets has also increased due to the covid pandemic. It not only increases these numbers but also diversifies them. When I visited hostels in Prague, I could see that, along with people who had the experience of living on the streets, some had worked and had housing up to that point. Thus, ordinary people were falling through the nets and finding themselves in the same spaces as the homeless, ” anthropologist Petr Vašát pointed out the new trend.