The Hungarian NGO “The City is for All” is fighting for the rights of homeless people – but not only for them, but with their active participation. They have much on their hands these days: the Parliament recently passed a constitutional amendment criminalizing living on the streets.

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The Hungarian Government has been systematically persecuting homeless people for several years, while failing to ensure sufficient social benefits and the right to adequate housing, says FEANTSA, an umbrella of not-for-profit organisations working with the homeless people, Housing Rights Watch (HRW), a European network of housing experts and The City is for All (A Város Mindenkié – AVM), a community organization of homeless people at a one-day seminar on Friday, 12 April 2013 in Budapest. At the seminar ‘Promoting Housing rights in Hungary’, FEANTSA, HRW and their European and Hungarian member organisations found that Hungary should take steps to introduce effective homelessness strategies and the enforceable right to housing in Hungary.

A press conference was organized on March 28th to celebrate the re-housing of two homeless couples, who had lived in the forest for several years, in the 10th district of Budapest. The celebration resulted from a cooperation between various stake-holders, unfortunately not too frequent in Hungary, a country where only 3% of the housing stock serves social purposes.

The organizations that cooperated in the project were the local city hall, the outreach team of the Hungarian Red Cross, and various social NGOs (Van Esély Alapítvány, Alapítvány a Társadalmi Felelősségvállalásért, Bárka Szociális és Gyermekjóléti Központ) as well as The City is for All, a grassroots organization of homeless activists and their supporters fighting for the right of housing. The physical reconstruction of the units was undertaken by the Social Housing Reconstruction Project, a group of volunteers who worked side by side with homeless people.

On March 11, 2013 the Hungarian Parliament adopted the Fourth Amendment to the Fundamental Law of Hungary, which criminalizes homelessness and gives constitutional jurisdiction to the prosecution of homeless people.

Homelessness is not a crime! Help us stop the Hungarian Parliament from enacting the criminalization of homelessness in the nation's Constitution.

* If you live in Hungary, join the demonstration against the 4th amendment of the constitution on March 9, 2013 at 3pm in Alkotmány utca! Spread the news, invite your friends!

Fidesz-KDNP, the ruling party coalition in Hungary, intends to enact the criminalization of homelessness in the Hungarian constitution. This step is the culmination of the two-year-long campaign of vengeance that the ruling powers have waged against one of the most vulnerable and poorest social groups in the country: homeless people living in the streets.

In 2011, The City is for All launched a participatory action research project about discrimination experienced by homeless people in Budapest. The study has been a groundbreaking effort in Hungary to involve people who are directly affected by harassment, exclusion and discrimination in scientific research. In line with the principles of participatory action research, the Justice on the Streets research team was made up primarily of homeless people.

On the 19th  January 2013, homeless activists and their allies squatted an empty building in the 7^th district of Budapest. The squatters demanded the institutionalization of a right to housing and an extensive system of social housing instead of punitive measures and overcrowded shelters. The activists were arrested and now face misdemeanor charges because of disobeying police instructions.