Homeless in Russia. Reasons and Solutions

The problem of homeless people exists all over the world. Our country is not an exception.

In this post I would like to talk about one of the most important topics — homelessness. What is homelessness? Let’s turn to the help of the Oxford Dictionary.

Homelessness — the state of having no home.

Judging by the definition, it cannot be said that homeless people are those who do not want to work, who have alcohol or dope addictions, etc. Studying this topic on the example of other countries, we can conclude that homeless people are most often hostages of family conflicts, unemployment, even theft or natural disasters.

However, is it so in the Russian Federation? Well, we cannot absolutely disagree because there are people who ended up on the street not because of addictions, but are there many of them?

How often do you walk around your city, town or neighborhood seeing homeless people? I do very often. And almost always people show that they abuse alcohol or drugs. This is our reality.

I. Talking about the statements, I would like to comment on them in order.

1. Most people who live on the street are there because they don’t want to work;

Well, if we speak about Russia, I think the statement is true. Just turn on the TV, find the 1st channel and watch any program, for instance “Мужское/Женское”. There are ALWAYS people who do not want to work. Look at HOW they live. Some kind of slums and ruins. Moreover, they usually abuse alcohol. Sometimes such people live on the street. But why? ONLY because they do not work.

2. Most people who live on the street have mental problems;

At this point I personally think that it is true. To my mind, no healthy person can be in such a situation. I will explain. A healthy person has his own head on his shoulders. He understands what is going to happen if he starts drinking or using drugs. A healthy person will try to find the way — call the relatives, friends, acquaintances just to get some help, he will find a job, no matter what. At least, if the person has no one to call, he will go to a special shelter and will search hard for work. That is why I think that a healthy person will not be homeless for a long period of time.

3. Society must help the people who have no homes and live on the street.

I personally think that it is a controversial thing. On the one hand, if a homeless person is alone and is struggling with finding a job for the moment, of course society have to help him. However, why should we help a person who is dope addicted? Of course, we can do that but if a person does not want to get rid of it himself, NO ONE can help. If such a person expresses desire, asks for help himself, we heed to help.

II. What about my own statement?

The greater number of homeless people are disabled and the elderly.

What do you think, is it true or false? Write your opinion in the comments below ↓

III. Now let’s move on to the articles that have been uploaded in the WhatsApp chat.

I really enjoyed the article “Moscow’s Coronavirus Lockdown Leaves the Homeless Out in the Cold” that was sent by Rachel where it was said that homeless people ‘can get free food and other essentials without personal contact’. This is really a very interesting idea in our difficult time of COVID-19 showing that people care not only about their own safety, but also about the safety of the homeless.

Still, I think the most effective way to help the homeless is to give them temporary shelters and help them find work.