On the occasion of the Worlds Day of the Homeless, the National Homeless Meeting was held in Rijeka from October 10th to 11th. The program of the Conference began with a public action on Korzo, where the associations that care for the homeless presented their work, after which the Conference entitled “Situation and perspectives in work with the homeless” began at 11 am.
Programs and measures for poverty alleviation were discussed at the Conference through the presentation of Prof. Ph.D. Zdenko Babić, while Prof. Ph.D. Olja Družić Ljubotina presented the results and guidelines of the first Croatian representative survey on homelessness in the Republic of Croatia. Đordana Barbarić gave a presentation on “Challenges of the ETHOS typology”, after which Dejan Travica spoke about the homeless in the context of addiction. The final part of the Conference was dedicated to the homeless on the labour market through a presentation by Drago Lelas and innovative social services for the homeless, which were discussed by Zvonko Mlinar. Helena Babić and Denis Maslov presented the activities of the Croatian Homeless National Football Team at the end.
The Conference was attended by key stakeholders in the field of care for the homeless, including, among others, representatives of the Ministry of Demography, Family, Youth and Social Policy, the Office of the Ombudsman, and representatives of local and regional government units, as well as experts from social welfare centers. The Conference provided an overview of positive developments as well as perspectives for improving the care for this group.
On the second day of the Conference, members of the Croatian Network for the Homeless visited the Homeless Shelter of the “Oaza” Association, a residential community for homeless women also run by the “Oaza” Association, and the “Rose of St. Francis” led by the Franciscan Secular Order of the Trsat Local Society.
Finally, a internal meeting of the members of the Croatian Network for the Homeless was held, where the current events of the members were discussed, as well as the joint plan for the implementation of activities for the coming period.
