Mělník shelter director: the facility helps families get back on their feet, but the night shelter is seeing more and more pensioners

The town of Mělník in the Central Bohemian Region runs an asylum house, a night shelter and a low-threshold day centre that support people who have found themselves homeless in a crisis situation. According to Veronika Mandincová, head of the social service, there is now a waiting list for places at the shelter, and staff are increasingly noticing a new trend: more and more elderly people and homeless women are turning up at the night shelter, whereas in the past most clients were young.

How help for families works

The asylum house can accommodate 12 families, with every three families sharing one kitchen; there is also a separate double room for single clients who need support from a social worker. Families typically stay here for no longer than a year — it's meant to be a temporary service aimed at stabilising their situation and preparing them to return to ordinary housing. Social workers help clients find a paediatrician, a job, housing, or debt counselling, and children are offered a so-called "little school" — sessions to help them keep up with the school curriculum.

Accommodation isn't free: under the current price list, an adult family member pays 145 crowns a day and a child 90 crowns, with the total depending on family size. According to Mandincová, some of the clients are members of the Roma minority, and even families with steady jobs and income often face rejection when trying to rent a flat.

Jan Denemarek Novaček, the town's spokesman, explained that supported housing has long been part of Mělník's housing policy: ordinary municipal flats are allocated on the recommendation of a key social worker, and once a client moves in, they work closely with the social activation service to develop the skills needed for fully independent living.

The night shelter is ageing

Mandincová has observed a growing number of people in Mělník who simply cannot afford ordinary housing — increasingly, these are people nearing retirement age or already retired. The shelter's night quarters consist of a room for eight men and a room for six women, with a night's stay costing 50 crowns. "We used to get more young people. These days we often see elderly or nearly elderly people. The number of homeless women is also rising," said the head of the service.

Among the causes are low incomes, unaffordable housing and the breakdown of family ties. "It used to be more common for a family to take care of ageing parents; today that's not always possible," Mandincová noted. Not all clients have been in a difficult situation for years — for some, a family broke up and they lost their housing, while others ended up with extremely low pensions because of their work history: low contributions, short insurance periods, working under contracts, or working abroad.

A day centre and a shower instead of a home

The free, low-threshold day centre in Mělník offers homeless people a common room, a kitchen, a shower and a washing machine; there is zero tolerance for alcohol and other psychoactive substances. A social worker helps with finding a job or a doctor, sorting out debts, and, if the client wishes, reconnecting with family or getting treatment for addiction. People living in unsuitable conditions also come here — for example, those living in garages due to financial hardship — to wash themselves and do their laundry.

The single benefit has made life harder

According to social service staff, the switch to a single "super-benefit" in place of the old system of allowances has mostly brought difficulties for clients: people are now receiving less money, and payments are delayed. The new system requires different documents, and some applicants end up with a lower overall benefit. Previously, applications were processed by staff at the local office who knew the situation in a given town — the availability of housing, cooperating organisations, and other forms of assistance.

In addition, the super-benefit did away with the option of the labour office paying housing money directly to the landlord as a "special recipient" — now the benefit always goes to the client. "They don't always manage to allocate the money so that enough is left from the total to cover the rent," noted Lucie Kerhanová, coordinator of one of the social services. Mandincová reports similar difficulties with paying for accommodation at the shelter: sometimes it's necessary to arrange instalment payments so as not to worsen clients' situations.

The director of one social organisation dismissed the reform's authors' claims about fighting "poverty trafficking" as unfounded: in his view, the new rules actually make life easier for unscrupulous landlords, leaving their potential victims even more vulnerable, since people with no alternative now have to pay everything themselves without state support.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by denik.cz