Have Attitudes Toward the Homeless Improved? Is it a More Humane Moscow?
By Stephen Wilson, one of our reporters abroad
He is completely disoriented and out of orbit. He has lost his way and can't even remember his name. He comes across as an adequate, approachable and communicative person. Only he has fallen, hurt his head and lost his memory. Unfortunately, he is without any documents which would confirm his name. As often is the case, his passport has either been lost or stolen through having no place to safeguard his most precious possessions.
Who can he turn to for help? Would he be better off in 2002 or 2022? Is there more likelihood of this homeless person receiving help twenty years on?
This is the kind of person whom homeless activist Ilya Kuskov of the charity group “Warm Reception” has been attempting to help. He uses this as yet another example to point out there are no typical homeless because each one is unique. Each homeless person may experience a wide range of problems—which vary from person to person. He estimates that over 50% of the homeless he has encountered have ended up on the streets due to rogue employers intentionally breaking their promises to pay them for their work in the construction industry.
Kuskov helps run a homeless shelter in the Khimki which can help up to 70 people. Over the past 4-5 years, they have managed to help more than 785 homeless in terms of restoring their documents and finding them work so they can afford homes. Homeless people can stay at the shelter from between 3 to 6 months while workers help them with their problems to get back on their feet again. The shelter also helps many people whom homelessness has turned into invalids.
Kushov states that unfortunately the pandemic has had a very negative impact on the shelter because their main sponsor, faced with growing economic problems, has withdrawn support. Kushov’s organisation is currently seeking an alternative location for the shelter.
Before the recent edition of his new guidebook for the homeless was launched on July 7th, 2022, Ilya Kuskov claims that attitudes about helping the homeless had improved after twenty years. He claimed that the situation has improved since the first publication of his guidebook in 2011 and the revised edition of it because the number of aid groups was rising. Therefore, the new edition also has become thicker with many more addresses. He states that "Very much has changed. In 2003 when we set out on our charity bus to help the homeless there were only two centers for feeding the homeless. However, now there are 17 charity organisations in Moscow which provide shared statistics, annual reports, audits, and aid for people. There is medical aid, social aid, and counseling aimed at helping the homeless rearrange their lives. We can say that society has become more humanized."
The same upbeat view was expressed to me by a worker of the charity organization Nochlezhka one year ago when he told me "People in Moscow don't relate so negatively to the homeless as twenty years ago." In general, the situation has improved. Ilya Kuskov's guidebook offers as list of useful addresses of where the homeless can get aid, where and how to reach resources, and when they can receive this aid can be accessed {i.e., where to obtain food, clothes, a shower, a shelter to stay in, free medical treatment and aid, and where to restore their documents as well as find work}.
But has the attitude of Muscovites regarding the homeless really changed? And can we really speak about a process of Moscow being 'humanized?' Isn't this just wishful thinking?
Perhaps it is worth considering a few crude indicators:
1. There is less blatant hostility and aggression towards the homeless by the police. In the 1990's it was not uncommon to witness some policeman come into a railway carriage in the metro and savagely beat a homeless person with a truncheon. I even came across cases where the homeless were brutally beaten to death by the police during the late 1990's. Now the police are more likely to escort the homeless out of the train or the metro station without resorting to violence. However, violent abuse of the homeless is still going on and it could be the violence is more concealed than conspicuous. It is worth pointing out that some policemen we have recently met actually help the homeless by providing them with clothes, food, and other forms of aid.
2. There exists evidence that some sections of the media are writing more sympathetic articles about the homeless as well as appealing for aid. A striking example is that a few months ago an article by the spokeswoman for Nochlezhka's Moscow branch, Daria Baibakova, was published by the business journal of the affluent, Forbes magazine. In the article, Baibakova sought to challenge the negative prejudices against the homeless and suggested ways in which business firms might help them.
On January 17, 2022 the newspaper, Metro, carried a headline 'Photo sessions turn the homeless into models,' pointing out if only the homeless got more help with their appearance as well as health, things could be dramatically altered. A free haircut and a little encouragement could make a difference in the psychological well-being of the homeless. There was a bit of sensationalism about this article but it did seem to be written with the best intentions. At least it is an improvement from articles which depict the homeless as just being addicts or criminals who pose a threat to society.
The local newspaper regularly sends to our flat 'Sever Stolitsa' {Northern Capital}, often has an article appealing for readers to volunteer or donate food, clothes or their time to helping the homeless. In fact, they publish the addresses and phone numbers of charity organizations which aid the homeless.
3. More and more people are volunteering to help the homeless. Those people tend to be from the younger generation. Along with this there are more charity groups helping the homeless. They have mushroomed dramatically. And we are not just referring to long established charity groups such as Nochlezhka, Milo Serdai, Spravedliza Pomosh and Warm Reception but countless others such as 'Nebomzhivi' {Not Without a Place to Stay} and 'Dom Drusei' {House of Friends}.
We should not overlook the fact that much of the aid to the homeless is of a very spontaneous and sporadic nature. I remember that about ten years ago a Scottish visitor to Moscow and I were going up on an escalator and a homeless person fell crashing down on us. We both lifted him up. When we all got to the top entrance of the Moscow metro, I noticed a young schoolgirl was waiting for him and others and was helping him with food and other assistance! On another occasion near my home a group of concerned youth were worried about a drunk homeless person who might freeze to death unless he was taken to a warm place. So they carried him into the warm hallway of a block of apartments.
There could be an improved level of awareness of the real problems being encountered by the homeless and a better willingness to help. However, it does not follow that a rising degree of awareness and increase in charity organizations means a subsequent improvement in the actual care of the homeless. During the pandemic, as many as 6,000 homeless are thought to have died in Moscow alone. This is a staggering figure. Homeless activists believe there could be as many as 60,000 to 100,000 homeless in Moscow alone—as well as around 50,000 in Saint Petersburg.
In Russia as a whole the figure may well be 3 million. The average time a Russian homeless person spends on the streets is 5 years, whereas in Europe it tends to be under a year. One of the main reasons for homelessness is people fleeing from domestic violence, yet the Russian government passed legislation which practically removed any protection from violence. In this case you could say that the attitude about this form of potential homelessness has worsened. If we look at the situation in regard to foreign refugees who arrive in Moscow, we would note the following: their situation has not improved but instead worsened. The attitude about homeless Russian refugees from the conflict in Ukraine may have improved but not to African or Arab refugees!
Homeless activists can never be too complacent. Improved awareness and mushrooming of charity groups have not been matched by any new initiatives or plans of action at a government level. In fact, there is no coherent or clear plan to end homelessness in Russia as you see in some countries such as Finland and Scotland.
We have a long way to go before finally taking the bull by the horns concerning homelessness.