Journal:Tiltai
Volume 73, Issue 1 (2016), pp. 171–190
Abstract
This article analyzes the survival strategies of homeless men in the night shelters and in the street. Homeless people face social and economic lack of resources and because of that, their daily life is related with hope to meet their minimal needs: to find the shelter and food, to protect themselves from the cold and violence. The article presents empirical study the goal of which was to find out how the homeless people construct their hope to survive the homelessness on the streets and shelters. The results of the research show that homeless men use these survival strategies: in order to get food they go to the charity canteens, get food from their friends, try to buy food with their minimal incomes or beg in the streets. In order to protect themselves from the violence homeless men try to be open-eyed at any time of the day, take the role of “conflict fighter” or try to be brave and proud when there is a threat to their health. Trying to protect themselves from the cold homeless people look for the relevant things and find remote places to hide from wind and cold.
Journal:Tiltai
Volume 76, Issue 1 (2017), pp. 45–60
Abstract
This article analyses the experiences of men who are suffering homelessness. The aim of this article is to identify the main problems of social services and to show their potential development. In today’s Europe, no one can be forced to sleep on the street just because there are no high-quality services that meet human needs. The state must ensure the rights of persons, who are suffering homelessness and to preserve their dignity by providing efficient and high quality social services, because only this kind of services allows to talk about the development of the modern state, shaping and reshaping the model of social services. This research allows to understand the phenomenon of homelessness from the point of view of homeless men and to identify the main problems that hinder to overcome homelessness. This article presents the empirical study, which results showed that social services in Lithuania are based on the material supply, so homeless men have poor access to quality social services. The infrastructure of hostels is not adapted for person with disability; social housing is difficult to obtain because of the long queues; homeless men also have difficulties to access independent living or nursing homes for the elderly.