Lviv – The Support Center for people who have lost their homes of the non-governmental organization “Community of interaction “Oselya” has started operating in Lviv. More than half a hundred people come here every day: both local homeless women and those who moved to Lviv because of the war and the danger of hostilities.
The doors of the Homeless Support Center have been open for visitors for almost a month. Their number is increasing every day. Some come for the first time, and some for the second and third time. Among the homeless are not only local people, but also immigrants.
55 years old Volodymyr N. came to Lviv from Sumy a year ago. Then there was an opportunity to evacuate, and he moved among thousands of displaced people fleeing a full-scale Russian attack on the territory of Ukraine. For some time, the man lived in the sports hall of one of the Lviv schools. After some time, educational institutions were released from internally displaced persons (IDPs), because schoolchildren returned to classes. IDPs were offered other places to live.
Maybe I’ll spend some nights at the station
“I am lonely. I have a place to stay now, but it’s temporary and I have to decide. Maybe I’ll spend some nights at the station. It is difficult to find a place to live in Lviv, there are fewer centers for immigrants. In Sumy, I was a builder, a tiler, that is, I know all construction work. But at this moment, if you don’t have a military ticket, you won’t get a job. Therefore, I have to solve it somehow,” says the man.
Volodymyr N. did not return to Sumy. He doesn’t have his own home there either. The man came to the Homeless Support Center for the first time. He learned about the Oselya community from other people who live on the street. First he chose his clothes. These are things that Lviv residents bring in special containers. They are sorted, and already then the clothes end up in charity shops and in the Support Center, where they can be obtained for free. Then the man visited the shower and could get a haircut and eat for free. There is another service – leaving your own things for washing.
Residents of the Oselya community work in the social center.
I was like that too, I was homeless
“When I see a person who comes here, I put myself in their place. I was like that too, I was homeless. I know what it’s like to sleep outside. I try to suggest that a person understands that it is possible to start a new life. I feel for these people. There are different people here. I myself am from Sloviansk, Donetsk region, among the visitors are immigrants from Mariupol,” says the 60-year-old Volodymyr Sukhodolskyi.
He works as a hairdresser at the Support Center. I learned this craft from a professional craftswoman who comes to serve community visitors as a volunteer once a week. Volodymyr Sukhodolsky skillfully operates with hairdressing scissors.
Here you can change your life, get on the right path
“I carefully watched the hairdresser’s hands and tried to repeat. I am very interested in this. At the age of 17, I played the guitar, had a musical group, then worked as a miller, locksmith. And then he fell in life, became homeless. In “Osel” – since 2019. Here you can change your life, get on the right path,” says Volodymyr Sukhodolskyi.
Another resident of “Oseli” works next to him Ivan Vasylevskyi.
He did not have a roof over his head when he divorced, he lived in buildings
“Visitors give me their clothes, wash and dry them. The next day, people can pick up clean and dry things. The laundry is more and more every day. Those who have already visited us come here more often. But there are also immigrants, these are older people. I was also in such a situation: I didn’t have a roof over my head when I got divorced, I lived in buildings, apartments, then friends and drunks. Over 2.5 years ago, I came to Oselya and am very satisfied. I see the world differently, I hold on and help as much as I can,” says Ivan Vasylevskyi.
The Center for the Support of the Homeless Community “Oselya” is visited mainly by displaced persons who did not have their own home and in the cities where they were before the start of the full-scale war. Among them are orphans, persons with physical disabilities, alcohol addicts, but there are also those who lost all their relatives due to the war, were left without a home, lonely and simply “lost” in the world. It is difficult for such people to find work because they cannot renew their documents, they are talking about such a closed circle in the Homeless Support Center.
War creates new challenges
Twenty years ago, near Lviv, in Vynnyky, Olesya Sanotska founded the “Community of interaction “Oselya” to help people who are in trouble. After the death of Olesya Sanotska in 2016, the case was continued by her sister, Natalia. For the past fourteen years, a support center for homeless people (sanitary and hygienic center) has been operating at Osel. People have been coming here all these years to wash, get their hair cut, eat, and 30 people live and work in the community. A year ago, when the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war began, the influx of needy people to Osel increased many times. Almost one and a half thousand new people arrived, half of whom are immigrants. There were queues for the shower every day.
Much more homeless people began to come just to wash themselves
“We lacked space for a long time. In 2019, we received a 15-year lease from the Lviv City Council on preferential terms of the building of the former polyclinic, which had not functioned for 30 years and was in a terrible condition. But they could not move the case. Too much money was needed to rebuild. And when our cell was filled with people last year, I started looking for different options for restoring the house. We were supported by Bishop Venedikt (Alekseychuk) of the UGCC, a local construction company, and the Emmaus-Europe organization. We do a great job for the city – we socialize people. Much more homeless people began to come just to wash themselves. Because the homeless don’t want to wash. They don’t want to take off the jacket, because the jacket is like their “home”. These are already psychological problems,” says the head of “Oselya” Community of Interaction Natalia Sanotska.
The “Oselya” organization managed to restore the house for the Homeless Support Center and double the area with the money of foreign donors. Today, the charitable organization is asking the Lviv City Council to increase the lease term to 30 years. After all, a lot of money has been invested in the social project and they want to be sure that after the end of the preferential lease, the city government will not install a commercial lease.
“Oselya” is a long-term partner of Lviv
“Oselya” is a long-term partner of Lviv and has repeatedly received the support of the city council. The war has made adjustments, but we will continue to support. The city leased the premises for 15 years, almost three years have passed and the lease is valid for the next 12 years. An application for its extension has been submitted. I am sure that everything will be fine,” he assures Ihor Kobrinhead of the social protection department of the humanitarian policy department of the Lviv City Council.
According to a city official, there is a lack of shelters for homeless people in Lviv today. There are no places in the night center for the homeless, as well as in the psychiatric hospital, where people with mental disorders who have been evacuated from the places of hostilities are located.
The Oselya community works according to the principle of how such organizations function in the West. Homeless people are offered to live in “Osel”, but discipline and responsibility must be observed.
Residents of the community work, in particular, in the Homeless Support Center, shops, workshops, prepare and distribute lunches and dinners for the homeless in Lviv. After that, they are offered a room in a social dormitory. And a person can independently find a job, create a family.
