Montenegro still does not have a registry of homeless people: "The state simply does not want to help citizens in need"

Montenegro does not have a shelter or an official register of the homeless, although the United Nations (UN) Committee recommended it ten years ago.

The last shelter for people whose only temporary address is a sidewalk, a bench or an old wagon was in Podgorica. It closed five years ago.

Centers for social work registered 12 homeless people in Podgorica this year, Radio Free Europe (RSE) was told in the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare.

Although the state does not have a precise registry and shelter, the Ministry believes that the homeless "are not ignored by the state" because they are "recognized" by the Law on Social and Child Protection.

Action for Human Rights (HRA), which ten years ago ran the first shelter for the homeless, says that it is irresponsible that the competent Ministry, as an umbrella institution, does not have precise data.

"It means that the state simply does not want to help citizens who are in trouble," says Martina Markolović from Action for Human Rights for RSE.

She states that the UN Committee specifically demanded that the state collect this data.

The Law on Social and Child Protection defines a homeless person as "a person who does not have a residential address, resides in public or other places that are not intended for housing and does not have the means to meet the need for housing".

The silence of the homeless

What kind of life circumstances lead someone to become homeless is a question that some of them did not want to answer for RSE.

Marina Medojević from the non-governmental organization Food Bank, which has been helping people in a state of social need for decades, told RSE that homeless people are usually afraid and run away from people:

"They didn't even want to talk to journalists before. They're not really willing to talk."

A large number of them suffer from chronic diseases, which is a consequence of living on the streets. A number do not have any health care because most of the time they do not have personal documents.

"A large number are passers-by, displaced persons and persons who do not have relatives who are obliged by law to take care of them," said the Ministry.

Is the state ignoring the homeless problem?

The Ministry states that the number of homeless varies depending on the season and weather conditions, and that they provided accommodation assistance to everyone who asked for it or found out that they needed it.

"However, there is not a small number of people who refuse help, because it is their lifestyle and freedom of choice".

They emphasize that it is difficult to keep records because the data on these persons are in different institutions.

"We believe that it is necessary to carry out the identification, registration and list of homeless people (vagrants, beggars and passers-by). In order for a person to be registered, it is necessary to seek help. Or for some other institution or citizens to inform us about a person living on the street in severe conditions", according to the Ministry.

What they say in the non-governmental sector

Markolović emphasizes that the state has a constitutional obligation to provide material security to all those who are unable to work and do not have the means to live.

He also points out that the fact that the state has data on a small number of homeless people cannot be an excuse for the absence of shelters and a registry of homeless people.

"The reality is far from the existing statistics. In practice, a much larger number of citizens still barely make ends meet and live in completely substandard housing. Nothing should be more important to the state than its citizens, and that's why we appeal, for the umpteenth time, to react urgently and ensure inter-institutional cooperation, without which this problem cannot be solved," says Markolović.

Although Montenegro is constitutionally a state of social justice, Podgorica is the only capital city in the region that does not have a shelter for the homeless, even though it has more than 180.000 inhabitants.

The home for the elderly in Risno is the only state institution that has a license as a shelter for the homeless.

The hostels don't work either

In addition, on March 1, 2022, the Ministry issued a license for the homeless shelter service to the non-governmental organization Juventas, RSE was confirmed in that organization.

The difference between a shelter and a shelter is that a homeless person cannot spend the night in a shelter.

The shelter provides meals, showers, donating and washing clothes, consultations with a psychologist, health worker, lawyer and the like, explains Juventas.

However, they emphasize that even after two years, the obtained license is "just a document in a drawer".

"Despite the need for this service, in practice the competent centers for social work still do not issue a decision on the use of the Juventas service because the competent ministry has not yet made an estimate of the cost of the service per user," Marija Radović from Juventas told RSE.

Juventas provided a shelter only for homeless people who come from the community of people who use drugs, or are people who provide sexual services, LGBTIQ people, former prisoners.

Radović also says that they are particularly concerned about the fact that there is no temporary accommodation for the homeless in other Montenegrin cities.

Podgorica has been without a homeless shelter for five years

The capital twice had temporary shelters for the homeless.

Action for Human Rights ran the first temporary shelter for the homeless in Podgorica from 2012 to 2013, with financial support from the Ministry of Labor and the Open Society Foundation.

The second was a pilot project of several local and state institutions from May 2017.

It could accommodate 15 people, and in addition to lodging, they were provided with lunch and a wardrobe from the Red Cross. It was closed in March 2019 with the explanation that it showed "financial unsustainability" because it cost over 60.000 euros per year.

Action repeatedly appealed to the state authorities to establish shelters for the homeless and fulfill the recommendations of the UN Committee from 2014, which, according to their estimates, the state has not yet fulfilled.

"Montenegro has been three and a half years late in submitting its report to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, so to date there is no official information on the fulfillment of the recommendations of that committee. HRA's assessment is that none of the recommendations given for respecting social rights and combating poverty have been fulfilled ".

The action emphasizes that Montenegro still does not even have a Strategy for the fight against poverty, which speaks of an inadequate approach to this issue.