Ukraine
The Odesa Charity Fund
Odesa Charity Fund “The Way Home” provide a number of services and assistance to homeless people, including street children. They run the Centre for Registration and Provision of Social Services for Homeless Citizens, “The Way Home” street paper, and a street soccer league for homeless people, including a street children’s football team “FC Domovenok.” Their specific focus is providing health services, education on HIV/AIDS prevention, and legal consultations.
Homelessness Statistics
2,700,000
People have been displaced since the conflict began in 2014
1,500,000
People living below the poverty line
Unemployment rate in Ukraine is estimated at 9.2% (CIA World Factbook, 2017), and it is estimated that 3.8% of the population is living below the poverty line, more than 1.5 million people.
Since the conflict in Donbas in the eastern region of Ukraine in 2014, 2.7 million persons have been displaced and over 4 million directly affected by continuing hostilities. (World Bank, 2018)
A persisting problem is the legacy of the “propiska” (registration) system from the Soviet period – if a person loses their place of residence, they are left without any civil, economic, and social rights. A lack of “propiska” which is both a residency permit and a migration tool (often known as an “internal passport”), results in a person having no entitlement to healthcare, education, employment, and other basic services. Often known as “invisible people,” those without “propiska” are practically non-existent for municipal and state authorities (OCF Way Home).
