Metropolitan Research Institute

Metropolitan Research Institute, Budapest

Homelessness

SOLACE-CEE Project launched

On October 1, six civil organizations, including providers from Slovakia, Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, and Hungary, launched the development and testing of innovations aimed at integrating social and healthcare services for homeless people. The project is led by the DEDO Foundation in Košice, with MRI responsible for monitoring and impact assessment. Read more at https://mri.hu/en/solace-cee/

FEANTSA 13th Research Conference on Homelessness – September 2018, Budapest

The 13th annual Research Conference on Homelessness of FEANTSA, the European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless, took place in Budapest on 21 September 2018. This year’s topic was “the Economic and Social Integration of Homeless People”. The event was co-organised by FEANTSA’s European Observatory on Homelessness, the Shelter Foundation of Budapest, and Metropolitan Research Institute – with particular efforts of Nóra Teller, editorial board member of the European Journal on Homelessness.

The event drew considerable attention, hosting 180 participants from almost 50 countries, representing academic lecturers and researchers, NGOs, think tanks, and municipal representatives among others. Participants arrived from all over the globe, including from beyond Europe – including the US, Australia, and South Africa. The conference was opened by Ian Tilling, FEANTSA’s president; and József Hegedüs, the managing director of Metropolitan Research Institute.

Presenters and discussants were organised into 18 seminars (6 parallel seminars in three time slots).  Seminar 2 on “Encountering Homelessness: Ethnography, Engagement and Critique” and seminar 10, “Social and Financial Advantages of Housing First” were chaired by MRI’s Nóra Teller. Seminar 3 focused on MRI current EU-funded project HomeLab, connecting housing and employment service provision to vulnerable persons in the Visegrad 4 countries – this session was chaired by József Hegedüs, and included MRI staff as well as representatives of our consortium partners.

The full conference programme is available here.

HomeLab: mobile homes under construction in Budapest

The construction of From Street to Home Association’s first two mobile homes is well under way – the work began on 30 March. The two mobile homes were delivered by truck to the building site in Soroksár, District 23 of Budapest. The Association’s colleagues, together with beneficiaries, professionals and volunteers have been working on connecting the units to the utility grids, and began installing insulation. A small selection of photos is published on the HomeLab website.