Cold weather makes vagrants seek refuge at temporary accommodation center

About 40 vagrants spend now the nights at the accommodation center for persons without stable domicile that was opened in Chisinau in 2004. The center's vice director Ana Toderas said that the number of such persons increases when the weather grows colder. There were nights last winter when more than 100 persons took refuge at the center. Most of the persons come voluntarily and ask for help. Those who come to the center have different life stories. Among them are persons with higher education, elderly and young persons, graduates of boarding schools who could not find a place to live, Ana Toderas told Info-Prim Neo’s reporter. “Here, they are provided with legal advice and social assistance. They can do medical tests. Only two or three cases of tuberculosis have been identified during five years. The persons are registered. We check if they are not wanted by the police,” the center's vice director said. At this center, the homeless persons benefit from free breakfast and dinner during three months. Very few of them ask to be helped to find work. But even if they do, the center cannot always help them as most of them do not have identification papers. “We must go to the archive and look for information about them. This takes a lot of time,” Ana Toderas said. The center has 70 places – 35 for men and 35 for women, though the number of homeless women is lower. One fourth of those accommodated at the center came back after a period. Tudor Capatana, spokesman for the Chisinau General Police Commissariat, stated for Info-Prim Neo that the number of homeless persons has increased compared with last year. There are about 4,500 vagrants in Chisinau, by about 700 more than in 2008. Nine in ten of them suffer from chronic alcoholism and drug addiction.