HOMELESS in the CITY

Winter is a hard time in Moscow, streets freeze and those without protection from the elements do likewise. The street dogs die in droves and those on whom society has turned its back huddle for shelter in perekhody or wherever else they can find shelter. This is what faces Moscow's homeless population over the coming months and, when both bodily and moral resources are at their lowest ebb, hyperthermia starts to claim growing numbers of victims.

The problems that face the bezdomny are multifarious. Soup kitchens find that their attendance rates soar as the cold begins to bite. A soup kitchen in the middle of Moscow says that its numbers grow by 30 percent when the streets get really cold and people need every last ounce of energy to keep warm. "We serve warming, filling food that can keep you going for a couple of days," says one volunteer.

This is just as well, as the kitchen is only open twice a week. Few of the disparate help centers know what help is offered besides their own, or where. The best people to ask are the homeless themselves, amongst whom news of aid travels quickly and who have divided up Moscow into mafia-esque turfs.

The aide-vitale in single biggest demand is clothing. A spokeswoman for Shelter Moscow, which collects and dispenses clothing to the homeless, says that the need for warm clothes for the extremities gets particularly desperate in winter, "Hats, gloves and socks are our single biggest shortages," she says. "People are giving more at this time of year, but the demand for things to keep people warm is really picking up and we always need more."

The government gives invaluable aid, but homelessness is a growing problem and the lion's share of resources are directed towards more photogenic causes than the disenfranchised. The Department of Social Protection has a specially designated section to help the homeless. It has established six hostels throughout Moscow that provide shelter and food. They also help people to find their relatives and, where possible, to send them home.

They, like many of the charities who work with the homeless, assist with documentation. Without a passport - for which you need an address - you have no social entitlements or official identity in Russia, and so once a person has reached the point of becoming homeless, it is extremely difficult not to remain homeless.

Olga, who works at a church-run help point that distributes food and clothing, says that she worked for 15 years with a charity that tried to help homeless people to acquire documentation. She now thinks that this was naïve as, in her experience, once someone has become homeless they are in a deeply entrenched psychological state from which it is near impossible to return.
"Once someone has reached this state they can't make any use of their new passport and they often drink any money that they earn. The best aid that they can receive is practical help, food and clothing."

Vasiliy has been living on the streets since 1988, when having been released from prison his cousins sold the house that he had lived in.

"I trained as an engineer at the Far Eastern National University in Vla­divostok," he says in English. "Life has led me on quite a trip and now I live in a forest outside of Moscow with my dog." He continues, "My situation is fine as I have somewhere secluded to stay, the real problem is for those without proper shelter. If you have to sleep in a perekhod for example it can be extremely dangerous... Homelessness generally leads to only the madhouse, prison or the grave."

He looks forward to drawing his pension next year, but you cannot help but wonder how he will do that without an address and passport.