The proposal to accustom the homeless to work caused a scandal: they misunderstood

But the alarm turned out to be false. Forced labor is prohibited in Russia, and no one is going to forcibly send the homeless to construction sites, factories and factories. And, let’s be honest, it would hardly work (try to get an asocial person to do something that he does not want to).

Do not force, but force. Do not force, but offer. The authors of the recommendations, Elena Topoleva-Soldunova and Natalya Pochinok, are talking about this. And also about the need to adopt a model regulation on the service of emergency and long-term assistance to the homeless.

Is there any danger in this approach – the MK columnist understood.

The topic of the homeless is complex, painful, and incredibly important. For me, in relation to prisoners and the homeless, one can understand the level of development of both society and the state. And each time, raising this topic, we must not forget about certain boundaries (albeit conditional).

On the one hand, a homeless person should not pose a danger to everyone else. On the other hand, mercy and compassion are needed.

– Are you going to work? I ask a homeless man who lives under a heating main.

– Nooo. Don’t want.

– What if they force you?

– I’ll run away!

– Do you need help from the state?

– Nooo!

– And if they give medicine, clothes?

– I’ll take it.

The homeless are a special category, many have a psychiatric diagnosis or are simply so far removed from social life that they have no idea how they could return to it.

According to official data, there are a little more than 10 thousand homeless people in Russia (data from the All-Russian Population Census, which was conducted in 2021), according to unofficial data – two million (calculations by some NGOs). But no matter how many there are, they are, first of all, people. And they need shelter, bread, treatment.

Every homeless person has a story. Some lost their homes and (or) documents as a result of the actions of scammers, some after leaving the colony, some – because of drunkenness and drug addiction. Ideally, it would be necessary for everyone to assign a curator who would help solve their problem. If we proceed from the fact that someone can be brought back to life in society, then find him a roof and a job.

There is no systemic attitude to how to help them in the state today. And in this sense, two women who tried to understand the situation – Elena Topoleva-Soldunova and Natalya Pochinok – have already accomplished a civic feat by developing recommendations for improving the situation with the homeless in the country.

The document outlines the main stages of assistance to persons without a fixed place of residence. And the first is identification, including operational identification. I quote “individuals and legal entities report to the Call Center for Emergency Operational Services at a single number “112”. It is assumed that law enforcement agencies (when patrolling the service area), the Social Patrol and Social Salvation services (at railway stations) will also identify persons without a fixed place of residence. And then the operator transfers the information to medical organizations (if necessary, to provide medical care) or to the internal affairs bodies of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation.

Doctors should arrive, as indicated in the recommendations, within 20 minutes. Within 3 hours, the police check a person for committing offenses and crimes, and if there are no grounds for detention, information about him is transferred to the Center for Social Adaptation. Already there, a person will be offered free hot meals or a set of products; clothes, shoes.

The next stage is assistance in obtaining emergency psychological assistance with the involvement of clergy in this work. And then social workers will try to offer him a job, remote social support “by providing him with the necessary assistance through conversations and consultations over the phone.” It was clarified that all actions against citizens without a fixed place of residence are carried out exclusively with their consent.

“I think that simply feeding and combing the homeless is clearly not enough,” says Natalia Pochinok. – Many of them are in a state of alcohol addiction, and therefore cannot make independent decisions. To pull them out of it, to let them come to their senses, to give them the opportunity to restore documents – this is a top priority. And then they themselves will be able to figure out how they want to live.

We understand that without constant work a person will not be able to feed himself. But this is not about coercion, but about coercion (if this word is correct) – that is, about arousing a desire to work and helping with its implementation. By the way, there are agreements with the largest employers in the field of waste management, the transport industry, housing and communal services, who would be ready to hire such people.

– I personally treat the idea of ​​mandatory labor rehabilitation with great caution, – says Elena Topoleva-Soldunova. Homeless people, even if they are physically strong (which is rarely the case), are usually mentally or socially unhealthy. They are very difficult to work with. And we have no right to force people to work. In the years of the USSR, this already happened. I don’t think it’s necessary to return to this system

It is interesting that today each region solves the problem differently. The Moscow region, for example, has developed a procedure for interaction between state authorities and organizations in the region to identify and arrange for people without a fixed place of residence. Engaged in the development of a similar order in the Lipetsk region. Many NGOs in different regions are already helping homeless people, they also have accumulated different experiences, formulated different approaches. Well, those same recommendations could help everyone else.

– In general, the approach to solving the problem should be interdepartmental, because the Ministry of Labor, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Justice are involved in the system, – says Elena. – We should have some kind of model regulation on the service of emergency and long-term assistance to homeless people. We started a big dialogue, and now it is important that the public does not abandon this topic.