Empty other apartments from refugees and immigrants (tables)
From 16 April 2022, a 34.36% reduction in the accommodation of refugees and immigrants in Thessaloniki is foreseen.
In further reduce the number of refugees and migrants who are staying in apartments in Thessaloniki urban complex proceeds from 16 April 2022 the Immigration and Asylum office. The ministry informed the partner bodies participating in the program about this decision REACT, a housing program for applicants for international protection, by letter sent the day before yesterday Wednesday 16 March and which is signed by the Secretary General for the Reception of Asylum Seekers Manolis Logothetis. By the same letter he informs them that the program ends on December 31, 2022.
Thus, based on the planning of the ministry from April 16, 2022, a reduction of capacity of 34.36% is foreseen. In particular, the housing places of the program amount until April 15, 2022 to 650, in rented apartments (Category A) and another 30 places in the shelter of asylum seekers “Hospitality” (Category C). From April 16, they are expected to be reduced to 426 and 21 positions respectively.
It should be noted that on January 1, 2022, a new reduction of the capacity of the program of 31% had preceded, as the accommodation places in rented apartments (Category A) were 949 and another 30 places in the shelter for asylum seekers “Hospitality” (Category C), total . that is, 979, compared to 680 today.
Nationwide, from the approximately 26,400 beneficiaries, the guests under REACT until last August, on January 1, 2022 their number decreased to 16,500, by April 15, 2022 was reduced to about 12,000 and from April 12, 2022. until 10,382. That is, the reduction amounts to about 60%.
In the area of Thessaloniki in the REACT program participate the municipalities of Thessaloniki, Neapolis Sykeon and Kalamaria as well as the municipalities of Thermi and Thermaikos, through Eastern SA. The organizations ARSIS, PRAKSIS and the Hospitality also participate. Under the program, 176 apartments with a capacity of 937 people, based on refugee and immigrant families, were initially rented in the urban area, while another 30 people found housing in the Hospitality. Now, the number of apartments has been reduced to 135 and will shrink even more after April 16.
The reduction in the number of staff employed under this program was similar. Its initial growth employed 95 people (administrators, economists, interpreters, social scientists, nurses, educators, etc.) which have now been reduced to 66 and after mid-April will reach about 40. In addition, those who are still working , have lower wages as working hours have decreased.
The Ministry of Immigration and Asylum justifies this decision for the reduction and permanent termination of the REACT program, saying that the significant reduction of new arrivals and immigrants in our country makes it unnecessary to keep so many places in apartments, since there are people. places in closed refugee structures.
This decision, however, is opposed by the bodies participating in the program. Among other things, they claim that in the last few days, the program has registered 35 requests for housing of Ukrainian refugees, which concern a total of 112 people, mainly women and children. The ministry was informed of these requests and replied that the refugees could be accommodated in a structure that operates in the area of Serres.
As reported in Voria.gr the mayor of Neapolis Sykeon Simos Daniilidis “I am going to raise this issue tomorrow (today) at the meeting of mayors that is underway in Athens. “Already, from the first moment of the war in Ukraine, I informed in my letters about the need to accommodate families of Ukrainian refugees in the apartments that are empty.” In addition, he emphasizes that “in addition to this need that has now arisen, we have been radically opposed for humanitarian and social reasons to the reduction of the program. At a time when tens of thousands of refugees and migrants are still living in miserable conditions in camps and camps and even in nationally sensitive areas such as the northeastern Aegean islands, it is a tragic mistake to leave rented apartments which has proved to be the most appropriate solution. . for the hospitality of these people, as, in addition to the decent living conditions, the program helps in their smooth integration, especially of the children, in the local community, in the schools, in the kindergartens and in the various activities “.