Why Prague's homeless are resorting to poverty tourism

I’m following Carol up ahead, who I’m struggling to keep up with. He’s taken me on a tour of Homeless Prague. I’m coming. I’m coming. I’m in the Czech Republic to try and find out why it has the highest rate of homelessness in Central and Eastern Europe. Carol’s taking me to Winston Square, one of the biggest squares in Prague where he used to work. He’s not waiting. Tours like this, run by local NGO Pragilik, claim to offer visitors an insight into the reality of life on the streets here. But can homeless tourism really be part of the solution for this crisis? He’s clearly enjoying my company. The little money Carol makes from being a tour guide won’t be enough to change his situation. Theresa. Hi Richard. Good to meet you. So I’m meeting Pragulik’s founder to find out whether the benefits of these tours outweigh their drawbacks. You have two hours on the tour to really get to know the homeless world. You have very personal face to face experience and we believe that this is the way how you can learn about the other person, their problems, their situation the most. How do you guard against exploitation and the idea of people coming for poverty tourism, which this does look like a little bit from the outside? Yeah, this is definitely a challenge. Of course, it will be viewed as a kind of voyeuristic service as we use homeless people. I definitely hear this negative comments, especially from other NGOs. How do you make sure that your guides are really benefiting? Well, hopefully they are benefiting. We we employ them, they get a contract every month, they get a salary. So it’s a big thing. It’s not meant to be the only way out of homelessness. Would we offer in Prague as an opportunity to start to get from the maybe the worst condition and we hope that that person can apply for some social benefits or get some extra jobs and slowly move to bid more stable situation. This day centre is unlikely to feature on a tourist’s itinerary, but it perhaps offers a better glimpse of the reality faced by many homeless people in the city. It’s run by Nadea, one of the Czech Republic’s biggest homelessness charities. Wow, bustling. There’s a lot going on. These services include a limited number of places in night shelters across the city. This is the biggest room for eight people. And this is a permanent residence. Yeah. Yeah. They can live here months. Yeah, more than one year. Social housing is problem. There’s no flats. In practice, if they have a little money, they can stay here and waiting for their chance. But that wait is a very long wait. It could be. It could be. Yeah. And and all the while, there are other people who would like to be here who can’t be here because there is. Yeah. Fiance. That’s a problem. Yeah, there’s a no national strategy for solving homelessness. Everybody solve this problem by own way. A lot of great work is being done by organisations like NADEA, but there is a limit to what they can offer. And beyond that there doesn’t seem to be very much. So it’s perhaps no surprise that there are complaints around the way the political leaders are tackling homelessness, or indeed not. And getting St. homeless people to use even temporary shelters remains a difficult task. I’m outside Prague Central Station waiting for a street outreach team who do the rounds and help homeless people at night. You must see a great deal of of of homeless people out in the streets. Has it been getting worse over the past few years? Is Prague a good place to be homeless? So far the view of homelessness we’ve seen has come from a very male perspective. But the challenges for a lot of women are very different. This is the community centre for homeless women that is run by Ekodoma. We go here, there is food from food bank. If they need social service, there is usually two to three people at any time. Women on the street have very specific problems in comparison to men, so they menstruate. They might become pregnant. Lots of women on the street have experienced violence or sexual abuse. All these people usually are in flux. Instability is the main defining factor. Can you tell me why you come to this centre? Do you feel that your political leaders are doing enough to address homelessness? They could do more. I understand that they are besieged by a whole lots of problems. Public finances are under stress. The cost of living in Prague has skyrocketed. People from abroad are buying flats or houses as a way of investment. We kind of have like German prices, but check wages. There has been an influx of Ukrainian refugees. Our women also like complain a lot about Ukraine women getting houses, Ukraine women getting work. Homelessness is like a tip of the iceberg. Olga takes me to a local Bistro run by Yakko DOMA and staffed by homeless women. When you’re a woman without a home, it’s not that you don’t want a job, it’s that it’s really difficult to find one. I think like building the relationships, getting back yourself, esteem is really important. Also here at the Bistro are representatives of social enterprise Misni Misnim, and we’ve got the map here. They connect businesses that offer different services, from the use of toilets to free lunches and even theatre tickets. So what have we got here? Water, power, Internet, toilet hot water and using of the PC. Oh OK, Why is it so important that there is this relationship between the homeless community and the general public? People without homes can be almost invisible to the public. This helps people to feel like a valuable member of society and helps them get back on track with their life. We have examples how only with the opportunity of the Wi-Fi, people have found themselves a job. If you want people to integrate back in the system, we need to offer something first. This is Yinka. Unable to meet the social housing criteria that would fundamentally change her situation, she instead moves from shelter to shelter as time limits elapse. What’s the hardest thing? Do you think about your own situation? Passe Ibadlani Pak Vasena Yeto ETA kuwaita Vishnai boy, the stigma. Teezat sierko Prostito problemo Aleta Stadt Southeast. It seems the Czech Republic is at the centre of a perfect storm of issues felt around Europe, from the effects of poor housing strategy and a cost of living crisis to the impact of the countries commitment to supporting Ukrainian refugees. But is Prague perhaps also a victim of its own success, seen by many from the wider region as a thriving, if increasingly unaffordable city, where a variety of NGOs help plug the gap in services that the Czech government is unable or unwilling to address? I’m outside one of the theatres that Miss Li Muslim supports, and I’m here to meet Yinka, who’s here for a night of dance. You seem very excited to be here.