The authorities should not ignore the situation and needs of the homeless persons when adopting public policies and measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic and should consider the way in which the measures can affect these persons. The authorities should also work out an action plan for preventing and testing for COVID 19 among homeless persons who represent a risk group in the current situation. The demands were formulated in an open letter of the initiative group “Blue Hut” that was addressed to the Government, the Commission for Exceptional Stations and the Chisinau City Hall, IPN reports.

The letter says the steps taken by the authorities only worsen further the life of homeless people who lack food, medical care and cannot work. The social eateries that provided food to these persons were closed. The public places (parks, squares), where these persons could beg and sleep at night, are now patrolled and closed. The sale in cardboard, glass and other items and occasional work at building sites became impossible. The homeless cannot survive when the city is blocked and when the townspeople remain inside houses and isolate themselves from the city.

The signatories call on the Government to review its previous decisions so as to address the specific needs of the homeless persons. In particular, it should allow these persons to stay in public places and ensure emergency aid in the form of free medicines and other medical services needed by homeless persons with viral infections or chronic diseases.

As there are only 100 places intended for the homeless in the municipality of Chisinau, the initiative group asks the City Hall to extend the temporary accommodation capacities by setting up temporary placement centers with sorting and symptomatic screening systems and to swiftly take measures to place mobile hygiene stations where homeless people could take a shower and wash their clothes.

The open letter also says that the canteens of municipal public institutions should mobilize to prepare warm meals for the homeless. The public institutions should provide their pools for delivering warm meals to these persons and to other people from socially deprived groups.