A Centre for the Registration of Homeless Citizens has been established in Donetsk

In accordance with the Laws of Ukraine: “On the Foundations of Social Protection for Homeless Citizens and Neglected Children” and “On the Social Adaptation of Persons Released from Serving Sentences of Restriction of Liberty or Deprivation of Liberty for a Specific Term,” the Donetsk Centre for the Registration of Homeless Citizens was organised under the municipal institution—the Donetsk City Shelter for the Temporary Residence and Rehabilitation of Homeless Persons—as of 1 January 2007. This centre is not an independent legal entity but operates as a department of the city shelter. This arrangement does not correspond to the regulations regarding the centre as set out in the Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of 30.03.2006, No. 404.
In our view, the city centre for the registration of homeless citizens should work in cooperation with other organisations and institutions as depicted in the attached diagram.
Despite the lack of defined autonomy, the centre for the registration of homeless citizens has been operating for three years, has acquired significant experience, and has achieved certain successes. The centre employs two full-time staff members: a specialist in social work and a social worker. To carry out their functional duties, the shelter provides a ‘Gazel’ vehicle with a driver. The social patrol created in this manner conducts raids on railway stations, markets, large shops, religious institutions, and other places where homeless individuals may congregate. The centre's staff also respond to calls from citizens.
In 2007, 203 homeless citizens were identified and registered in Donetsk, including 156 men and 47 women;
citizens of pension age – 24, including 15 men and 9 women;
disabled persons – 9, including 8 men and 1 woman;
persons released from places of deprivation of liberty – 95, including 85 men and 10 women.
At the same time, there is reason to believe that in a city of one million like Donetsk, the number of homeless citizens may be significantly higher. Therefore, it was decided in 2008 to change the tactics of working with this category of persons. To this end, upon the initiative of the city shelter, it was proposed that employees of the Department of Labour and Social Protection of the Donetsk City Council hold an organisational meeting with the heads of the city’s Interior Affairs Department, the city health department, and representatives of the centre for the registration of homeless citizens on the topic of the joint implementation of the “Homeless-Drifter” programme in all districts of the city of Donetsk. The goal of the programme is to identify and register all homeless citizens in Donetsk and provide them with assistance, primarily social and medical.
Employees of the city department of labour and social protection held a series of meetings on the organisation and implementation of the special “Homeless-Drifter” programme in the city, and by March 2008, a schedule for conducting this campaign across all nine districts of the city had been drawn up.
Before each service participating in the implementation of the “Homeless-Drifter” programme, the following tasks were set:
A) For law enforcement agencies: prevention of offences and crimes among this category of persons; identification of citizens who have returned from places of deprivation of liberty but have not registered for preventive monitoring with the militia (police) authorities; identification of persons for whom court-ordered supervision has been established but who are evading control over their conduct; identification of persons who have committed crimes but are hiding from investigation;
B) For healthcare workers: resolution of problems concerning the sanitary-epidemiological and hygienic condition of individuals in this category; identification of those suffering from tuberculosis, venereal, infectious, and neuropsychiatric diseases; referral of patients to medical institutions;
C) For social workers of the shelter and the centre for the registration of homeless citizens: maximum identification of homeless persons; entering them into the centre’s database; providing them with diverse social assistance, namely:
- providing temporary shelter, restoring personal documents, registration at the shelter’s address, assistance in finding employment; assisting patients in obtaining disability status, assisting in the processing of disability pensions and for persons who have reached pension age; assisting in the placement of the elderly and disabled in residential care homes for this category of persons.
The first stage of the implementation of the “Homeless-Drifter” programme was carried out from 05.03.2008 to 15.03.2008, with one day allocated to each district. How was this campaign conducted? In Donetsk, there are 90 public order protection posts, each employing an average of three police officers, i.e., an average of 10 posts per district. Thus, a total of 30 officers from these posts were involved in each district. The task of these officers was to identify and transport all homeless citizens in their sectors to the district police department. There, city and district police officers began working with them, conducting an interview with each homeless person, verifying their identity, photographing them, and compiling a signal alphabetical card.
Following this, each homeless citizen underwent an examination by a district hospital physician, who conducted an oral interview regarding illnesses and performed a visual examination of each person. In the event of discovering diseases, the patient was issued a referral to a medical institution of the appropriate profile for treatment. It would have been highly beneficial if a mobile fluorography unit had been deployed during the raids to detect tuberculosis patients, but in this campaign, the city health department was unable to resolve this issue.
Social service workers from the Donetsk City Shelter conducted surveys of every homeless person, identified their problems, provided each with the shelter’s business cards, issued referrals for sanitary treatment to the Donetsk City Disinfection Station, and offered each individual diverse social assistance.
Thus, in just nine days in Donetsk, as a result of the raids, 277 homeless citizens were identified, including 217 men and 60 women. Of this number, 197 require the restoration of personal documents, housing, and registration for subsequent employment, as well as the processing of disability status and old-age/disability pensions, and placement in residential care homes for the disabled and elderly. 41 people were found to be suffering from tuberculosis. All of them received referrals for treatment at anti-tuberculosis dispensaries; 23 people have other illnesses and require placement in medical institutions; 5 people were identified as having venereal diseases and were referred to the city skin and venereal dispensary.
Of the total number of homeless identified, 118 people were individuals who had returned from places of deprivation of liberty and had not wished to register for preventive monitoring with the police.
In the process of this work, a number of individuals who had committed crimes and were wanted were identified.
Thus, for the first time in Donetsk, a sweep under the “Homeless-Drifter” programme was conducted on such a large scale. The conduct of this campaign revealed a number of organisational shortcomings due to the lack of experience in carrying out such events: poor organisation of work in some districts where the necessary conditions for working with the homeless were not created; the absence of basic conveniences for work (tables, chairs); and not all officers at the support posts understood the importance of the event. During the raids, there were cases where homeless citizens exhibited various types of ailments (epilepsy, heart failure, open wounds). They needed urgent medical assistance, but some district hospitals did not ensure the presence of a medical worker and an ambulance during the sweep of the district territory.
Employees of the shelter and the centre for the registration of homeless citizens analysed the results of the “Homeless-Drifter” programme, prepared official reports to the leadership of the Donetsk City Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in the Donetsk region, to the leadership of the Department of Labour and Social Protection of the Donetsk City Council, and to the leadership of the Health Department of the Donetsk City Council.
Taking into account the experience of the first sweep under the “Homeless-Drifter” programme, the city shelter and the centre for the registration of homeless persons attached to it again appealed in January 2009 to the leadership of the city police, and the heads of the city departments of labour and social protection and healthcare with a request to conduct a second stage of the city sweep under the “Homeless-Drifter” programme. The goal of the new campaign was to adjust the number of homeless citizens in Donetsk and identify newly appeared individuals of this category. In this stage, the performers of this campaign were tasked with the same objectives as in the first stage, but at a higher organisational and executive level. It was necessary to take into account the experience gained a year ago and to avoid the mistakes and shortcomings that occurred during the first stage.
In January 2009, a coordination meeting was held regarding the conduct of the second stage of the “Homeless-Drifter” programme in February, and a schedule for the campaign was developed. All police, healthcare, and social protection workers involved in the campaign were familiarised with the schedule. The raids were conducted from 5 to 25 February 2009 in all nine districts of the city. During the implementation of the second stage of the “Homeless-Drifter” programme, 426 homeless citizens were identified, including 361 men, 65 women, and 44 minors (38 boys and 6 girls). 7 orphans were identified, including 6 boys and 1 girl, who are neither studying nor working and have no housing. 3 people were considered dead but in fact turned out to be alive, and they needed to have their status as living persons restored.
According to the homeless themselves, 45 were identified as suffering from tuberculosis and were sent for treatment; 11 people had open wounds; 125 people were found to have pediculosis and were issued referrals for sanitary treatment; 305 people required registration; 189 people needed their personal documents restored; and 73 people were sent to the shelter for residence. Of the total number of homeless identified, 160 people, including 7 women, had returned from places of deprivation of liberty and had not registered for preventive monitoring with the police.
As a result of the raids, 86 homeless disabled persons were identified, including 6 women, as well as 20 people of pension age (including 5 women); however, none of them receive a pension because they did not process their pensions in a timely manner due to the lack of documents and registration at their place of residence.
In the process of the sweep, a number of individuals who had committed crimes and were wanted were identified; 1 person was subject to deportation from Ukraine as they were illegally present on the territory of our country.
All homeless citizens identified during the sweep under the “Homeless-Drifter” programme were documented; signal alphabetical cards with photographs were compiled for them, and an identity check was conducted for each person.
The Centre for the Registration of Homeless Citizens registered all identified homeless individuals, included them in the card index database, and issued identification documents. All 426 people were given an information sheet about the shelter and the centre, which specifies the address of the shelter, the transport that can be used to reach it, a phone number, and information on what social assistance the homeless person can receive. Thanks to these measures, after the second stage of the sweep under the “Homeless-Drifter” programme, the number of homeless people who wished to reside in the shelter increased sharply. Judging by the results of the sweep, it is evident that, in the main, all services involved in this campaign were well prepared and carried out the sweep at a high level.
In addition to the sweep conducted under the “Homeless-Drifter” programme in February 2009, the social patrol of the shelter identified another 104 homeless citizens during the first half of the year. Thus, it is evident that the targeted city sweep and the raids by the shelter’s social patrol identified 530 homeless citizens in Donetsk, who represent a breeding ground for the commission of offences and crimes, and are also carriers and spreaders of diseases such as tuberculosis, pediculosis, scabies, fungal, venereal, infectious, and other illnesses. In this regard, a very complex sanitary-epidemiological situation has arisen in Donetsk; homeless citizens do not have the opportunity to regularly maintain personal hygiene (washing their laundry, bathing, getting haircuts, washing their faces, brushing their teeth, etc.). There are no workhouses, social housing, social hostels, or night shelters in Donetsk; therefore, people inhabit basements, attics, heating mains, and other places not suitable for living.
All the above-mentioned problems concerning homeless citizens must be solved by the city; they cannot be left for later, because delaying their resolution could lead to very sad results.

Director of the shelter N.A. Fedoruk