Assessing municipal housing programs

In September 2010 we organized a press conference to assess the housing programs of all democratic parties running in the municipal elections in Budapest. In addition to offering our critiques, we evaluated the programs with school grades based on how much they would improve homeless people’s conditions.

Advocacy training for homeless people

In March 2011 we organized an advocacy training for homeless people. Our aim was to inform people living in shelters about the possibilities of advocacy in their institutions. We talked about the importance of collective action and the ways in which homeless people can communicate their needs and interests to the management. Since then, many participants have become members of The City is for All.

We prevented an eviction

On November 2, 2011 we prevented the evic-tion of our member, Irén who rented a run-down storage in Józsefváros with her children. Even though Irén neatly restored the space, the government did not appreciate her efforts and ordered her to leave the place. For months, we negotiated with the municipality with no avail. Finally, we stood up for our right to housing at a demonstration, where the deputy mayor promised Irén that her housing won’t be lost.
 

Campaign against the criminalization of homelessness

From the fall of 2010, we fought for more than a year against the law that declared street homelessness an offence. Although the law was finally accepted, we successfully drew the attention of the public to the inhumanity of the law, and we mobilized many people in our protest actions. At our demonstration held in front of the Parliament, more than 600 people expressed their solidarity with homeless people.

 

Prevention of unlawful destruction of shacks

In the summer of 2012, we prevented the government of Kőbánya from unlawfully demolishing the self-built shacks of the inhabitants of the Terebesi forest. We led negotiations between the inhabitants and the local government, securing assurances that the inhabitants would be provided safe and appropriate housing.

 Glasses for the masses

Many homeless people are unable to en-gage in the public sphere because they suffer from visual impairment. In our chari-ty campaign we collected hundreds of pairs of glasses and provided free eye exams to dozens of homeless individuals, in order to provide them with appropriate glasses.

 
 

Forum on the registration of public services

In 2012 an electronic database was intro-duced requiring users to register their health insurance number in order to access services, which creates many difficulties for homeless people. To relay these concerns to the relevant authorities we organized a public forum for homeless people, service providers and employees of the govern-ment office implementing the new system.


 

Demonstration for the right to housing

In December 2012 we held a demonstration in front of the Parliament with the participation of hundreds of supporters against the criminalization of homelessness and the enactment of the right to housing. Several groups were represented such as the Roma living in segregated settlements, those defaulting on their mortgages and victims of domestic violence.

 
Shack-dwellers’ victory!

Six homeless people sued the Zugló local government for unlawfully destroying their homes in 2011. The shack-dwellers won the lawsuit in 2014, and the courts ordered millions of HUF to be paid as compensation.

Csányi street building occupation

In spring of 2013, 27 activists had their day in court following the occupation of an empty municipally owned building in Budapest. The protestors demanded social housing as a solu-tion to homelessness instead of criminaliza-tion and shelters. Originally they were fined for over 1 million HUF, which was later reduced to 400,000 HU. According to the court, their actions were harmless to society and they drew attention to important social issues.



From the forest to housing

In spring 2013, two social housing units were granted to homeless people in Budapest, who had previously lived in the Terebes forest. The two units had been vacant before they were reconstructed through the joint effort of Social Housing Reconstruction Camp, The City is for All and several other organizations and individuals.

Human chain in the Budapest General Assembly

The homeless activists of The City is for All and their allies were holding hands, telling poems and singing around the chairs of the Budapest City Council members in the council’s assembly room on November 14, 2013. The group’s aim was to prevent the assembly from passing an ordinance, which extends the criminalization of homeless people to a major part of the city.

Annual summer university

Since 2013, we have organized our annual summer university around housing, activism and social movements. Every year we draw a crowd of 200 people from all walks of life including many who directly experience exclusion or oppression.

Who wants to be a housing politician?

In the summer of 2014 we organized a public contest on housing modeled after Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Four teams competed against each other, where most members were affected by housing poverty. The winning team received a free dinner and a book as a prize.
 

From the Streets into Housing!

Members of AVM with a background in so-cial work founded the From the Streets into Housing! Association whose goal is to pro-mote Housing First and help street home-less people directly into housing.

March for the right to housing

Since 2010, we have organized the Vacant Buildings March against homelessness and poverty with the participation of hundreds of people. In 2016 we renamed the event the March for Housing and drew almost a thousand people who demanded an end to evictions, more social housing and real support for those living in housing poverty.

Agreement against police harassment

In 2016, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee and the City is for All reached an agreement with the Budapest Police Department to end random identity checks of homeless people. The police acknowledged that checking someone’s ID because they look poor is unlawful and they promised to refrain from unnecessary identity checks near soup kitchens and social institutions.

Fighting for the right to a proper address

More than 100.000 people in Hungary have inadequate addresses. People without a permanent addree or an address specifically designed for homeless people face serioues difficulties when they want to access social or health care services, attend school, open a bank account or purchase a sim card for their cell phones. Since 2016, we have been lobbying for legalislative changes to solve the problems deriving from a lack of a permanent address. 

Fighting for clean, accessible and free public toliets

In Budapest there are barely 80 public toilets for more than one and a half million people. In addition there are very few public toilets that are free of charge and accessible to disabled people. The City is for All has started a large-scale campaign to change this situation. In addition to many actions and lobbying efforts, in 2017 collected 3300 signatures on our petition to the municipality of Budapest, the Ministry of Human Resources and the Ministry of Interior.

Housing 6x6

In October 2017, six opposition parties (DK, Együtt, LMP, MSZP, Momentum and Párbeszéd) made a commitment to six of our demands including the codification of the right to housing, the expansion of the subsi-dized rental-housing sector, the introduction of national housing maintenance and debt support, measures to make private rentals affordable and an end to the criminalization of homelessness and squatting. 

The luggage storage on Vajdahunyad street is now open on weekends

Homeless people often have difficulties stor-ing their belongings so many of them use the Vajdahunyad street baggage storage facility run by the Shelter Foundation. Origi-nally, this service was only available on weekdays so customers could not access their belongings for days. After collecting signatures and negotiations initiated by The City is for All, the Foundation extended their opening hours to 365 days a year.

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Around 30 citizens protested against a new law that would criminalize homelessness in Hungary by punishing "residing in public spaces" with a fine of several hudred euros or jail.

On november 11, 2011, the protestors staged a sit-in at the office if the ruling party's "rapporteur on the homeless" demanding tha he immediately repeal the law.

On 11 November 2011 the City is For All (AVM) held a demonstration in front of the municipality of Budapest’s 8th district claiming that local mayor Mate Kocsis repeal his proposal to impose a 530 euros fine on homeless people or 60 days of imprisonment for "residing in public places". Despite the heavy protests of local and international actors, the proposed legal amendment is still on the Parliament’s agenda, decision will be made on Monday, 14 November 2011. When the performance was over, citizens expressed their solidary with AVM with a sit-in in the municipality building protesting the punishment of homeless citizens for their social circumstances. Dozens of police arrived at the scene in the end to get the activists out of the building.

Dear Friends all over the world,
 
The City is for All is a grassroots group fighting for the right to housing in Hungary. We are now asking for your solidarity with and support for Hungarian homeless people in the face of an increasingly difficult situation. Some of you may have heard about the sequence of increasingly oppressive actions over the past year against homeless citizens by the local and national government in Hungary. Let us first briefly summarize what has happened in Hungary since December 2010 regarding the repression and criminalization of homeless people.

On 17 October, The City is for All (AVM) held a major demonstration against a government proposal to impose a €500 fine or imprisonment on people who are found “residing in public places” twice over the course of 6 months. According to AVM, the proposal is unconstitutional and inhumane, since it punishes homeless people for not having appropriate housing.

A whole series of repressive measures against homeless people preceded the proposal in the past year. In December 2010 the Ministry of Interior introduced legal amendments that made it possible for local mayors to punish “residing in public places”. Istvan Tarlós, the mayor of Budapest did not wait long to come up with an order that forbade “residing in public places” in the capital. The fine imposed by the local ordinance was €180. Despite the fact that the ombudsperson found the local ordinance unconstitutional, district mayor Máté Kocsis started to enforce it vehemently in the 8th district of Budapest, arresting hundreds of homeless people in the course of a few weeks in October, 2011. Clearly, Kocsis’s aim was to harass homeless people until they leave his district. Kocsis was also among the signatories to the aforementioned proposal to imprison homeless people, which was discussed by the Parliament on October 17.

500-1000 people attended the Monday demonstration, which was also closely followed by Hungarian and international media. The participants were quite diverse proving that the criminalization of homelessness is an issue that concerns all, not only homeless people. The demonstration started with a young Hungarian poet reading out her piece inspired by the repressive anti-homeless measures of the past months. This was followed by a performance that demonstrated the consequences of the new criminalization proposal if it enters into law. Hundreds of participants lay down on the ground in front of the Parliament, while activists dressed as representatives of the police tried to take them to jail.

2011. július 9-én A Város Mindenkié is részt vett az "A feladat az, hogy megváltoztassuk" című aktivista fórumon. A konferencia nyitóbeszélgetése már videón is megtekinthető.

A beszélgetés résztvevői: David Harvey (társadalomtudós), Bársony Kata (filmkészítő), Scheiring Gábor (szociológus-közgazdász) és Udvarhelyi Éva Tessza (kulturális antropológus).

Activists' Forum in Budapest on 9th July 2011 from Matyas Benyik on Vimeo.

A FEANTSA, a hajléktalan emberekkel dolgozó szervezetek európai ernyőszervezete tiltakozását fejezi ki a Budapesten 2011. április 27-én elfogadott rendelet ellen, amely szabálysértéssé nyilvánította a köztéri hajléktalanságot.

In April 2011, The City is for All is launching its Zero Evictions Campaign in response to the Hungarian government’s limited renewal of the moratorium on evictions. The new moratorium only protects those who have fallen back on foreign currency mortgage installments but excludes many others in danger of being evicted including squatters, social housing residents and those who are in arrears for rent and/or utilities. Our campaign calls on the Hungarian government to officially recognize the right to housing through legislation and guarantee that nobody is evicted without a proper alternative placement.

April 5, 2011.
Housing, not Walls!
Activists who engaged in non-violent civil disobedience to stop an eviction in May, 2010 were on trial. Arguing that they had followed their convictions and did not cause any harm to society, the judge dismissed the fine imposed by the police and only gave us a warning. The activists were represented by the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union.

Video of our nonviolent civil disobedience on May 13, 2010.

For more information on our anti-eviction campaign in 2010, click here and here.

Images of the solidarity protest and trial on April 5, 2011.

April 9, 2011.
Anti-eviction forum
The one-day forum will be an opportunity for people in danger of eviction to exchange experiences and information and get involved in our Zero Evictions Campaign.

April 15, 2011.
Press conference and performance
A member of the housing mafia, a banker and a real estate developer celebrate the partial end of the moratorium on evictions with champagne, which will allow them to purchase real estate below market rate. The event officially launching our campaign will take place on Gellért Hill overlooking Budapest.

April 29, 2011.
Demonstration against evictions without alternative placement
Demonstration in cooperation with housing rights organizations, homeless people and those threatened with eviction. We invite everyone to participate who believes that nobody in Hungary should be evicted without proper alternative placement.

Who are we? The City is for All (A Város Mindenkié) is a homeless-led housing rights group in Hungary with a mixed membership of homeless and formerly homeless people and their allies.

Further information: avarosmindenkie.blog.hu/tags/english
Email: avarosmindenkie@gmail.com

The City is for All has joined the declaration signed by many housing rights organizations in February, 2011 in Dakar, Senegal.

In the last ten years, articulations and convergences between activists, social movements, inhabitants´ and neighbourhood organizations as well as technical supports that defend the right to habitat have been consolidated.

Findings: 

We gather around the struggle for the realization of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ESCR) that are fundamental in defending the structural place of the family, rural and urban communities, and coexistence based on the inclusion of all people. We refer to the ESCR that are related

to habitat and which correspond to state obligations related to housing, water and sanitation, education, health and citizen participation. These are the legal basis for demanding collective rights to land, natural resources, livelihoods, energy, transportation and recreation, and especially the right to the city, food sovereignty and climate justice. Due to the close relationship with the family, home, neighbourhood, village and public space, women are principle protagonists in local struggles to defend the right to habitat. Women, as well as children, disabled people, the evicted, homeless, nomads, refugees and migrants are the main people excluded from these rights and therefore must be recognized and their rights defended in all of these struggles.

In a video shot at the European Social Forum in Istanbul in 2010, Zsuzsi Pósfai explains the history, goals and activities of The City is for All.

Zsuzsi def from stefano collizzolli ZaLab on Vimeo