Socio-economic transformations and changes in the political system which occurred in Poland after 1989 brought about numerous social phenomena in the work market, which affected a significant group of middle-aged people. Unemployment is such a social phenomenon and homelessness frequently occurs as its consequence.
Despite the fact that homelessness is a worldwide problem, the phenomenon of homelessness, or a thereat of homelessness in Poland has been intensifying since the 1990’s (comp. Babiarz, 2001, 122).
In its structure, homelessness is a very complex phenomenon since it involves both individual men and families and whole societies.
Thereby, it disrupts man’s proper development and the way he functions every day, causing anxiety and constant tension and leading to conflicts and numerous extreme types of socially undesirable behavior. Intensification of negative social phenomena leading to marginalization and exclusion of the poor, old, sick, unemployed and homeless points to an ever greater need for and “a conscious necessity of solidarity and responsible involvement in the development of each and everyone” (Nowak, 1996, 41) and in particular social and legal protection for those most in need of support.
From among numerous definitions of homelessness, I will refer to its understanding by Porowski (in: Pilch & Lepalczyk, 1997, 434) who defines homelessness as “a relatively permanent situation of a man deprived of a roof over his head or not having a place of his own”, as a result of:
a freely chosen lifestyle (e.g. vagabondage),
desperate decisions (e.g. sojourn as an exile),
deviated behavior on the part of a person or of somebody else (e.g. eviction of people who violate regulations of accommodation law, rejection from home),
random incidents (e.g. an earthquake, orphanhood),
wrong social policy (e.g. a housing deficit, poverty)”.
Homelessness can be analyzed with reference to an individual man life situation, treated as a social phenomenon or as an indication of pathology or a social problem connected with the welfare policy of a state. Hence, we can talk about the following forms of homelessness (Porowski, in: Pilch & Lepalczyk (ed.), 1997, 434): overt homelessness – real (lack of any place to live) or hidden homelessness (typical of people staying at shelters, social welfare institutions, as well as various places which do not meet criteria of accommodation standards and are frequently life-threatening).
The phenomenon of homelessness affects people of various ages, it influences individuals, groups of people and whole socially excluded societies. In Poland, the following factors of homelessness are among the most frequently mentioned:
social reasons (institutional) – are connected with material factors, among other things with a lack of council flats and therapeutic and care centers as well as of nursing homes, an underdeveloped system of postpenitentiary care;
personal reasons – concern family, marital problems, various forms of pathology and a poor state of health, both physical and mental;
legal reasons – Polish legislation allows eviction for arrears in rent payments, as well as notification of authorities about a tenant’s departure without providing substitute accommodation (Babiarz, 2001, 136-137).
With reference to the typology of homeless persons, we can distinguish the homeless by choice (such people are characterized by specific personal predisposition and convictions which reject social life norms and patterns of behavior, and as a result of this they end up in a state of deep destruction) and the homeless out of necessity (when homelessness affects a person against their will due to some life necessity. It is felt as a mental state of frustration and depravation and as an indication of social exclusion and social pathology) (Porowski, in Pilch & Lepalczyk (ed.), 1997, 440-442).
This form of homelessness, depending on various environment factors and personal predisposition, can be of a transitory, episodic or long-term character. Increasingly frequently one also distinguishes homelessness which is a consequence of the development of civilization
(Mazur, 2007, 12). Here a very important role of institutions which provide various forms of care, support or therapy for the homeless, the poor and the socially excluded is essential. One of such public benefit institutions is St Albert’s Brotherhood of Mercy in Lublin, which runs a shelter and a night refuge for homeless men.
St Albert’s Brotherhood of Mercy in Lublin began to function in Lublin in 19831. The Mission of the Brotherhood is “to restore dignity to the human person, to help people in extreme poverty and homeless people to return to the society and to the work market”.
The year 1988 can be considered as a breakthrough in the welfare work of The Association of A. Chmielowski’s Lublin Aid Society, when a kitchen for the poor was organized at Zielona 3 in a building made available by the Lublin Curia. The number of free meals distributed by the kitchen, both on the premises and delivered to people’s homes, is systematically growing and has now reached 500 a day. There is also a health center and a dentist’s surgery for the homeless. In 1992 the city authorities provided a dwelling house at Dolna Panny Marii 32 to function as a shelter for homeless men.
At present, the biggest project of the Brotherhood is the expansion of an activation center for the homeless. A building in Bystrzejowice Trzecie, which used to house a primary school, made available in 2005 by the Piaski borough, is to become a model center of getting out of homelessness, promoting the best tested western models, adapted to Polish realities. The objective of the innovative center is to teach people anew how to discover both the previous work of the Brotherhood and to transform the perception of problems of poverty and homelessness in the society (comp. Miecznikowski, on-line).
The Brotherhood of Mercy runs the following programs:
a kitchen – eating-house (c. 500 warm meals are distributed daily);
a shelter for the homeless, in the winter period a night refuge (for c. 70 men);
an adaptation flat for persons getting out of homelessness;
a Social and Professional Activation Center in Bystrzejowice Trzecie.
1 Until 1991 the Society functioned under the name An Association of Fr.
Albert’s Aid Society.
The forms of aid involve in particular: providing temporary accommodation in the night refuge or the shelter for poor, sick, homeless and addicted people, motivating addicts to undertake a drying-out or detoxification treatment, providing medical care, helping to find a job, to become independent, to get out of homelessness and helping to acquire identity documents, pensions, old-age pensions, benefits, a place in a social welfare house, as well as clothes and furniture.
The primary goal of St Albert’s Brotherhood of Mercy is to help people to get out of homelessness and poverty (most people to whom the Brotherhood provides help are not homeless, but they live in abject poverty). A growing percentage of the charges are people of a professionally active age who are unable to cope with socio-political changes and loss of jobs. Brotherhood employees use various methods of work with homeless people, among them are:
a relaxed conversation, a psychological conversation, observations, an interview, specialist supervision, negotiations, crisis interventions, counseling and individual work, a resident’s support therapy, work with a small or a big group and supporting community life.
The aims of the activities undertaken are the following:
to sustain and inspire activity in order to protect homeless people against a consolidation of a passive attitude towards oneself, one’s own matters, other people and their social environment;
to teach people how to be systematic, responsible for oneself, others and property entrusted to them;
to make them learn how to function in a group or in team work;
to teach people social rules;
to strengthen a sense of self-esteem and an alternation of personal attitudes, to show that others need them and that they can serve others;
to point to the fact that a person is not alone and that they can count on others’ help;
to check out a person in situations which require taking decisions or fulfilling the obligations undertaken so as to prepare people to function independently in a society.
It is very important for the Shelter employees to create for a homeless person conditions to open up to such an extent as to
reduce or eradicate their resistance, to establish contact at a level of their understanding of reality, which will allow them to obtain information about their present situation, to find out the factors and the crisis situation itself, thanks to which it will be possible to convey information on possibilities and forms of acquiring help to those who need it. In some situations after an initial recognition of the problems of a person admitted into the center, they are suggested to establish a contract with a social worker of the Municipal Family Support Center in Lublin, concerning an individual scheme of getting out of homelessness, which enables a given person to acquire a health insurance. Moreover, homeless persons who take jobs in the Shelter have a possibility of being employed.
It is critical to undertake systematic institutional and legal activities that prevent social phenomena that allow the development of homelessness and social exclusion. However, what is most important is to bring up modern man in respect for the dignity of life, an ability to discern general human values and to constantly create himself/herself in order to discover humanity – both in themselves and in other people.
References
Babiarz, R. (2001). Wartość pracy w życiu bezdomnych, „Roczniki Nauk Społecznych”, Vol. XXVIII- XXIX, no. 2, 122.
Nowak, M. (1996). O pedagogikę wrażliwą na osobę i wspólnoty osób,
„Roczniki Nauk Społecznych”, Vol. XXIV, no. 2, 41.
Porowski, M. (1997). Bezdomność – obraz zjawiska i populacji ludzi bezdomnych, In: T. Pilch, I. Lepalczyk (ed.), Pedagogika społeczna.
Człowiek w zmieniającym się świecie , Warszawa: „Żak”.
Mazur, J. (2007). Bezdomność jako przedmiot polityki społecznej, In:
J. Mazur (ed.) Bezdomność. Szkice z socjologii, polityki społecznej i katolickiej nauki społecznej, Lublin: Wydawnictwo KUL, 2007.
Mieczkowski, A. (on-line). Dzieła miłosierdzia chrześcijańskiego w Polsce i w Archidiecezji Lubelskiej – www.albert.lublin.pl