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March 06 2012
How homeless people across Europe have coped  in temperatures as low as minus 50 degrees Celsius

 

The cold weather has taken its toll across the Continent

Homeless people across Europe are falling victim to the cold snap as temperatures continue to plummet to minus 50 degrees Celsius in parts.

Across Europe, the icy weather has claimed a reported 600 lives in total, with the elderly and homeless remaining the worst affected. Many of those who have frozen to death have been unable to gain access to hostels so have been sleeping rough in parks, doorways and stations.

In the UK, temperatures sank to as low as minus 18 degrees Celsius resulting in the death of a homeless man sleeping in a park in Hull. Hostels are also being inundated with rough sleepers looking for temporary accommodation due to the lack of emergency response by the government. Many, such as Oxford Homeless Pathways, are allowing people to sleep on the floor to prevent further deaths but are struggling to deal with the influx of people.

“Largely as a result of the economic crisis, professionals, young people and families are finding themselves homeless. Members have had to adapt their services to these changing profiles, but of course this is not easy when their own resources are tight or being cut because of austerity measures linked to the crisis,” communications and information officer for the European Federation of National Organizations Working with the Homeless (FEANTSA) Suzannah Young, told The Pavement.

In France a “cold alert” is in place each year where emergency accommodation is opened once temperatures drop below minus one degree Celsius. There is also a law in place across many European countries including France, Belgium, Italy, and Germany that stipulates that no person can be evicted from a shelter between 1 December and 1 March.

The Ukraine has been particularly badly hit, highlighting the government’s struggle to deal with the issue of rising homelessness in the country.

Ukrainian authorities have now set up nearly 3,000 heated tents and food shelters for the homeless but are struggling to cope with the sheer volume of people in need. A reported 140 people have now died across the country as a result of the freezing temperatures, most of these thought to be homeless.

Rough sleepers across Europe are continuing to struggle with night-time temperatures as they plunge to as low as minus 40 degrees Celsius in parts of Finland and Russia. Thousands of people have been treated for frostbite and hypothermia and health officials are now urging hospitals not to discharge homeless people.

“This is definitely a recurring problem,” added Ms Young. “Unfortunately there are deaths among homeless people every year. For FEANTSA, it is quite clear that a number of these deaths could have been avoided if working homelessness strategies were in place. This is demonstrated by the fact that there have been no deaths whatsoever in very cold countries, like Finland, which has a robust homelessness strategy based on ‘housing first’ principles.”

The European Parliament has urged Europe to take action on homelessness and has advised member states to devise winter emergency plans as part of a wider homelessness strategy which aims to end homelessness by 2015.

The European Commission’s “Action on Homelessness” held an emergency hearing on 13 February where 30 MEPS signed a joint letter calling for immediate action on the current situation.

Commissioner Michel Barnier described the crisis as “an extreme form of social exclusion”.

Despite the fact that the EU has no jurisdiction in tackling homelessness, Barnier reminded member states they had a “moral duty” to deal with the problem.

Homeless people are the most vulnerable, particularly during the winter months and many in Europe are calling for a strategy to put an end to rough sleeping.

MEP Gabriele Zimmer said of the crisis: “National governments have an obligation to protect these people. Local authorities should be helped to provide warm shelter, hot food and drinks, blankets, winter clothing and heating fuel.”

“The extreme cold weather is not just exposing the plight of the homeless in Europe. It also reflects a drastic failure of policy with the deaths of hundreds of people across the continent.”

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