St. Vincent de Paul shelter in Bratislava. (source: SME - Jozef Jakubčo)
The number of homeless people in Slovakia increased threefold, from around 23,000 to more than 70,000, in a decade, according to the latest census.
Alexandra Kárová, head of Vagus, a civic association for the homeless in Bratislava, said the rise was partly due to different methodology used in the last census in 2021 compared to the previous survey from 2011, the Sme daily writes.
She added though the real number of homeless in Slovakia could actually be much larger as what is generally considered homeless is vague -internationally accepted Ethos typology describes homeless people as not only those who sleep in public spaces outside, in shelters or abandoned buildings, but also people whose housing may be under threat, including someone in an abusive relationships.
But as well as revealing a large increase in the numbers of homeless in Bratislava, the census also dispels some stereotypes about them.
Many homeless people went to university
While the common image of a homeless person is of an unkempt itinerant in a sleeping bag, these type of people actually comprise only a fraction of them.
Of the 71,076 homeless, at least 20,000 have jobs, mostly doing various part-time and occasional, or sometimes illegal, work. Most often they are machine operators, construction workers, craftsmen, or shop assistants.
At least 1,700 homeless in Slovakia have a university degree.
They also come from virtually all age and social groups - roughly a fifth of homeless are people on maternity and parental leave, and about 11,000 are children under 14.
Homelessness overlooked by politicians
Slovakia remains unsuccessful in tackling homelessness, as the issue is often not considered a political topic.
Nevertheless, some progress has been made in the form of pilot projects in the Housing First concept in which homeless people are first provided with a home and then supported in finding a job or securing health care.
The technocratic government is also expected to draw up concrete measures to deal with homelessness.
