Lack of subsistence, a family conflict or housing fraud are the most common reasons leaving a few Bulgarians homeless. One often sees them carrying around all their immovable property in supermarket bags; looking for something useful in dustbins or sitting in large cardboard boxes in street corners. Some of Sofia's homeless have actually come from the provinces.

"Unfortunately there is a trend of an increasing number of young people getting homeless”, Mina Vladimirova told Radio Bulgaria. She is the Director of the Social Activities Department at the Municipality of Sofia. It turns not that no one is immune to such a personal drama: there are a few university graduates among the homeless. One of them is a 74-year-old man we met not far from the Crisis Center for Accommodation of Homeless. "I won't tell you who I am because my name is known. All my life I have worked in the area of culture”, he says.

What has actually happened to the homeless as the freezing cold has tightened its grip on the country?

For the time being two crisis centers for accommodation of homeless are in operation in Sofia with a total capacity of 170 beds. They are financed with funds from the Municipality's budget and aim to provide shelter to homeless on cold winter nights. Apart from shelter inmates are also given meals and clothes, as well as consultations by a social worker and a psychologist.

The municipal hospitals also respond and take care of homeless with health problems. "The crisis centers have opened because accommodation in them is fast and there is no red tape. All the homeless person has to do is produce valid ID papers", Mrs. Vladimirova explains. The stay in centers is from 6 pm until 10 am on the next day. After that the homeless are back to the street.

"I live at minus 20 degrees C. I am healthy, and can resist the cold”, the old man says. He tells us he was born in Sofia and is retired. His pension however is too small and not enough for proper living. Asked whether he has got friends and family to help him, he is curt: “Everybody has problems. Life is tough.” Having lived without a roof over his head, he is looking for shelter in the crisis center. What is beyond his plight?

 "No one is to blame for my plight. I am to blame. People help: give me meals, a nice breakfast with tea, plus a clean bed to spend the night. This is a very humane center. They do a good job, and it is not easy to find money to keep this going.”

Apart from homeless referring to the center for help, there are also mobile teams at the municipality. On the coldest nights they tour the city looking for people in trouble. "Quite a few homeless have accepted the street as their home and refuse to go to the center”, Mina Vladimirova explains. “In such cases the teams offer tea, lunch baskets and consultation. Last winter 500 homeless turned to us for assistance.”

"Most of them were accommodated in other social institutions: temporary shelters, old people's homes and homes for disabled persons”, explains Mrs. Vladimirova. “This winter so far we have registered 350 homeless. We hope that with our mediation they are going to get the respective social service, find jobs or simply go back to normal life. We have opened a soup kitchen. Thanks to donors, 1350 deprived people including homeless ones are given free meals on workdays. Besides, with the support of Mission Without Borders Foundation we provide 200 servings of free lunch for the homeless in Sofia. The Municipality of Sofia uses various tools in a bid to help people in need.”

The 74-year-old man has applied for permanent accommodation at an old people's home. He is not optimistic though. "The procedure looks fairly cumbersome. It might be that one dies before one ever gets accommodation there”, one of Sofia's homeless concludes. 

English Daniela Konstantinova