In the major urban centers of Greece, our organizations, through homelessness relief actions and programs, often face a harsh reality: fellow citizens living on the streets, despite multiple vulnerabilities and serious health problems, have no access to either immediate or long-term and palliative care. Very often, due to the lack of an appropriate housing framework, even after hospital discharge or cancer treatment, they end up back on the streets.

Recent cases confirm once again that neither the number of existing facilities is sufficient, nor are the conditions appropriate for the specialized care required for homeless patients. Housing programs are not designed to provide solutions to the deadlock of comprehensive healthcare for people in critical health condition, for whom hospitals can no longer offer anything further. The current framework for housing eligibility in shelters and dormitories is inherently restrictive, and the inability to provide care for advanced health issues excludes a large portion of the homeless in critical conditions — ultimately putting their lives at direct risk.

There have also been reports of homeless cancer patients dying within homelessness structures without receiving necessary palliative care due to the lack of such services in the National Health System. Furthermore, the temporary hospitalization of individuals with severe mental health conditions in psychiatric units — when such a practice is followed — is not linked to long-term housing rehabilitation or continued nursing care. As a result, upon their discharge from psychiatric units, these individuals return to previous conditions of homelessness and mental illness.

The lack of appropriate care and housing provision for homeless patients is a critical issue that the competent Ministries — Health, Social Cohesion & Family, and Migration & Asylum — must take seriously.

We call upon them to collaborate with Local Authorities and Civil Society and to immediately implement practical, suitable, and sustainable solutions.

Signed by the following organizations (in alphabetical order):
ARSIS
Doctors of the World – Greece
Médecins Sans Frontières
International Social Service – Hellenic Branch
Network for Children’s Rights
Greek Forum of Migrants
Greek Helsinki Monitor
Greek Council for Refugees
Greek Network for the Right to Housing and Accommodation
Hellenic Patients' Association
P. Sakellaropoulos Social Psychiatry Organization
Positive Voice
Center for the Support of Children & Families
K.S.D.E.O. “EDRA”
Nostos
Organization for Social and Ecological Intervention – Unemployed Network
SOPSY Serres (Families/Caregivers & Friends of People with Mental Health Conditions, Alzheimer’s & Related Disorders)
Technodromo
babel day centre
CO2GETHER
EMFASIS NON-PROFIT
EQUALSOCIETY – Society of Equal Opportunities
givmed
HIAS Greece
INTERSOS HELLAS
Ithaca
PRAKSIS
PROMITHEAS
SAMS Greece

Source: socialpolicy.gr