It’s certainly not the first time that Fidesz, Hungary’s ruling party, moves to criminalize homelessness. But this time the Orbán government is preparing to go further than ever before, by amending the country’s Fundamental Law, to make homelessness unconstitutional. The amendment would make it illegal for anyone to “habitually” reside in public spaces.
Fidesz MP and Viktor Orbán’s former lawyer István Bajkai remarked that there is no reason for anyone in Hungary to be homeless, as all supports are in place to ensure that everyone has shelter. He referred to the “fact” that Hungary has adequate day programs and homeless shelters. The justification for banning homelessness through the Fundamental Law is that Budapest is the nation’s cultural, economic and political centre, and seeing homeless people and the related unpleasantries in the streets is, as he remarked, “an inconvenience.”
Not only is Mr. Bajkai’s plan and commentary devoid of compassion, but it is also ill-informed. For the past 7 years, I have worked for an organization in Ottawa, Canada, which provides both day programming, meals and an evening soup kitchen to the homeless, the marginalized and the working poor. In addition to our program, there are four other shelters or day programs within a five block radius of our organization. When one looks at this superficially, one might be inclined to assume that homelessness in Ottawa is not a problem, as there is an abundance of resources at everyone’s disposal.
Yet this is not the case. For a wide number of reasons, people who are homeless choose not to stay at the available shelters or may not use the programs available to them. Mental illness can result in either someone staying away from such organizations, or can led to someone being barred from these services, due to their behaviour. Some people eschew shelters, due to the perception (or the reality) that these places are unsafe or that someone already struggling with addiction will be exposed to others engaged in overt substance abuse. In Ottawa, all five shelters and day programs in the central Sandy Hill and Lowertown neighbourhoods are affiliated with Christian churches. For some, a history of trauma and abuse (such as with the Indigenous populations and the legacy of church-run residential schools) may keep people who need these services from seeking them out. And finally, it is common practice for shelters to require clients to vacate the dorms during the day and only return in the late afternoon, which means that homeless people are, indeed, on the street — unless they decide to spend the day at a day program, some of which are only for women and children.
The plan announced by Fidesz is myopic and cruel. It’s also connected to a municipal election campaign in the Budapest district of Józsefváros, where the opposition has united behind Péter Győri, a man who has spent the past three decades working on homelessness-related issued and establishing a charity to this end. Mr. Győri is a serious contender in the Józsefváros mayoral race and has a reasonable chance of reclaiming the district from Fidesz.
Criminalizing homeless is not the answer–addressing the conditions that cause homelessness or that result in people not seeking the services and care that they need is.