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ESPN Thematic Report on National strategies to fight homelessness and housing exclusion – Croatia (2019)

During the period of EU accession, the problem of homelessness, which had hitherto gone unremarked, finally gained recognition as a legitimate and complex social problem. It first became the subject of social regulation relatively late, in 2013, when larger cities were given the responsibility of providing shelter and food for the homeless. Croatia is a nation of homeowners, with a very small social rented sector in the major cities. Most families provide the means for housing accommodation of the young generations, and there is no viable housing policy in place. Accordingly, there is no housing policy strategy. The state has left housing and the housing market in the hands of speculative developers. The definition of a homeless person is narrow, and refers to a person who has no place of residence, who resides in a public place or another place not intended for housing, and who has no means of meeting his/her housing needs (category 1 of ETHOS Light). Other ETHOS Light categories are neither recognised nor included in the definition of homelessness. According to the official statistics of the Ministry of Demography, Family, Youth and Social Policy, in 2018 there were only 364 homeless persons. However, the Croatian Homeless Network estimates that around 2, 000 people live in absolute homelessness, without any ‘roof over their heads’ ; it maintains that if the estimates were to include all the ETHOS Light categories, that figure would increase to 10, 000 people. Over the last 10 years, homelessness has increased. Homeless persons today include: able-bodied unemployed young people, older working-age people who are waiting to reach retirement age, the mentally ill and the elderly (whom the system does not help either by providing or by facilitating accommodation in a retirement home or with a foster family), young people who have left institutional forms of care, persons with intellectual disabilities, war veterans and other groups of social welfare beneficiaries. Estimated figures are the result of continuous data collection carried out by organisations dealing with the homeless. There is no national strategy that properly addresses homelessness and housing exclusion (HHE). Homelessness is addressed in the Strategy for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion. Part of the goals and activities focus on homelessness services: shelters for homeless people, soup kitchens, social housing, development of employment programmes and provision of access to all necessary services through the support of programmes aimed at strengthening the homeless and getting them ready for independent living. The current programmes are implemented thanks to EU funding granted to civil society organisations (CSOs) that provide services at the local level, in cooperation with other stakeholders. In 2018, 14 homeless shelters were registered, with a total capacity of 383 people. Services for the homeless have traditionally focused on providing shelter and social support, rather than integrated employment assistance, although a number of shelters/overnight shelters do provide job-search assistance or activities for the socioeconomic integration of homeless persons. Priorities for improvement: to create a broader definition of homelessness, bearing in mind the ETHOS concept ; to ensure better monitoring of project implementation, funded by an open call for proposals ; to create a social housing strategy that addresses the issues of HHE (this strategy should comprise social investment in accommodation facilities, training of staff and recruitment of professionals to provide the necessary services) ; and to strengthen several organisations in larger cities with the capacity to introduce the Housing First service as a social innovation.

Homelessness, housing exclusion, national strategies, social policy

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