Prague 9 rejects a hostel for the homeless. The municipality wants it in Vysočany
The management of the town hall of the ninth district of Prague does not agree with the intention of the municipality to open a hostel in the Vysočany complex, the mayor of Prague 9, Tomáš Portlík (ODS), said on Tuesday. He is now considering opening a city hostel in Skloněná Street in Prague, Prague Councilor Adam Zábranský (Pirates) informed on Monday. The hostel should provide facilities for homeless people who have lived in so-called humanitarian hotels in Prague, which Prague has leased until the end of June. On Tuesday, Zábranský stated that the building in the complex would serve as a hostel temporarily.
“We are worried about the possible increase in crime. This locality is long-term burdened by the undesirable occurrence of socio-economic phenomena and the additional burden of this type of situation will of course worsen. Such a decision could only be made by someone who does not know the city district of Prague 9 at all, “said Portlík.
In the middle of the year we open two city hostels for homeless people! They will link their activities to humanitarian hotels and will be among the standard measures that Prague takes in the field of homelessness. Unlike the previous city leadership, we want to end homelessness. 💪
1 /– Adam Zábranský 🇪🇺 @adamzabransky
June 14, 2022
According to Portlík, the representatives of the coalition at the municipality with the management of Prague 9 did not discuss the establishment of a city hostel. According to the mayor, the municipality previously announced that the building, which the municipality bought from the transport company (DPP) last year, will provide, among other things, temporary accommodation for refugees from Ukraine.
The City Hall of Prague 9 does not object, however, it wants the part of the complex, which is now owned by Prague, to be entrusted to the administration. There, the town hall wants to expand the home for the elderly, which it is setting up and which is located in the neighborhood. Prague 9 has been negotiating the entrustment with the municipality for two years, the mayor added.
On Tuesday, Zábranský announced that the municipality had bought the buildings in the Skloněná complex with a plan that a hostel would be established in one of the buildings, and representatives of Prague 9 were informed of this. “Both sides know that a city hostel with a capacity of 50 people will open there. We limited the capacity to 50 because we did not want to overload the location, “said Zábranský.
The city now owns five buildings in the Skloněná Street complex, which it bought from DPP. According to Zábranský, it is planned that two buildings will be entrusted by the city to Prague 9 and the remaining three will be apartment buildings after reconstruction. For the time being, until the reconstruction begins, there will be a city hostel in one building and a hostel for Ukrainian refugees in another.
According to the plans of the metropolitan representatives, the town hostel could also be established this year in the town building in Strojírenská street in Zličín. As in the case of the establishment of a hostel in Skloněná Street, Prague councilors will still discuss the matter. People who now live in four rented hotels should move to the hostels.
At the end of May, about 180 people were accommodated, said Zábranský. The city leased the hotel facilities in 2020 to accommodate hundreds of homeless people in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Hotel equipment rental will end at the end of June.
On Monday, people from the Sleep at Home initiative protested against the closure of hotels at the town hall. Zábranský stated that the municipality cannot extend the leases indefinitely. He also added that it was clear from the beginning that the so-called humanitarian hotels would help only a fraction of the thousands of homeless people in Prague. According to the Prague councilor, the system solution should be the commissioning of a sufficient number of city hostels.