2019-12-20, Temesvary, Zsolt

Although their exact number is unknown, supposedly dozens of destitute Hungarian homeless people currently live in Basel, Switzerland. Despite their vulnerability and severe social needs, social workers and other experts know little about their living conditions. This paper aims to explore the dimensions of time and space as well as the characteristics of personal and institutional relationships of Hungarian homeless people living in Basel. The study applies Hans Thiersch’s lifeworld-oriented perspective on social work that contributes to the better understanding of the affected homeless peoples` daily struggles. The study is based on semi-structured qualitative interviews carried out with both homeless people and social workers in the institutions of homeless care. The paper concludes that due to the ‘protectionist’ mechanisms of Swiss social policy, unregistered Hungarian homeless people are excluded from most cantonal social and health services. However, their daily routine is strictly structured by the opening hours of the low-threshold services and their human relationships are limited to other homeless people as well as social workers at soup kitchens and day-care services.

2019-09-22, Temesvary, Zsolt

This paper aims to introduce the living conditions, the migration-related motivations and the fulfilment of previous expectations of Hungarian homeless people living in Basel. The research was based on participatory observations conducted in social institutions as well as on semi-structured qualitative interviews carried out with both homeless people and social workers. The main findings of the study reveal that the Hungarian homeless community is rather heterogeneous considering the member’s age, background and the general circumstances of living. Despite of this heterogeneity, the common language and cultural background create a relatively strong bond among the affected people. Although Basel is not a primary target of economic migration, the tolerance of the authorities and the people, and the favourable living conditions affect a lot of Hungarian and other Eastern-European destitute people to the city. The previous expectations for living a better life and finding a job are regularly not fulfilled and people are often trapped in homelessness and poverty.

2019-09-21, Temesvary, Zsolt

After the extension of the European Union, the European Economic Community and the so called Schengen Area, hundred thousands of Central and Eastern European (CEE) citizens decided to leave their home country for living and working in one of the economically developed countries of Western Europe. Even though Switzerland is not member state of the EU, it is the fourth most popular target country among CEE citizens. In the wake of highly qualified young workers, a lot of poor and/or homeless people left their home because of extreme poverty, social exclusion, stigmatisation and marginalisation. The new order-based social policies against poor and homeless people in Poland, Hungary and Romania just exacerbated the situation and compelled further excluded social groups to leave their home countries. Although Swiss social workers undisputedly experience an augmented burden in the institutions of homeless care, they do not know too much about the living conditions of destitute mobile EU citizens. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the migration-related motivations, experiences, coping strategies and future plans of destitute CEE citizens living in Basel. The main question of the research is that why destitute EU citizens left their home country, their families and gave up their jobs for an unpredictable and risky new life in Switzerland. The research primarily focuses on the surviving strategies of CEE homeless people, with particular regard to their relationship to the Swiss homeless care. The analysis is based on semi-structured qualitative interviews carried out with the affected people and social workers as well as on participatory observations conducted in the institutions of homeless care in Basel city. Doing so, the research introduces the living conditions of an Eastern European homeless community by following their activities in the city’s night shelters, day-care institutions and soup-kitchens. The applied qualitative research revealed that the Central and Eastern European homeless population in Basel is rather heterogeneous incorporating street musicians, beggars, temporary workers, prostitutes and criminals alike. None of the interviewed persons came directly to Basel, they arrived to the city after a longer or shorter European wandering of which starting point was almost always Vienna. They prefer Basel to the other European cities because the police is more tolerant, authorities are supportive and people are generally friendly with the newcomers. However, destitute EU citizens are eligible only for a few social services in Switzerland, most of them can use solely low-threshold services like soup kitchens and temporary night shelters, and a lot of them sleep in public places on a daily basis. As they are allowed to stay in the city only for three months without residence permit, most of the destitute EU citizens are sans-papiers and are not eligible for social allowances in Basel.