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State will always stand by social welfare initiatives, Anthousi says

Δήμος Λεμεσού – Διάσκεψη Τύπου – Πρόγραμμα “Σχεδία”
Photo: CNA

Social Welfare Deputy Minister Anastasia Anthousi on Tuesday pledged the state’s continued support for social welfare initiatives while speaking at a press conference reviewing the work of Schedia Support and Reintegration Centre for the homeless of Limassol.

The deputy minister praised the centre’s “multifaceted and important work” in tackling homelessness in Limassol, helping hundreds of people in its first three years.

She also pointed out that its launch three years ago was a point of pride for late Labour Minister Zeta Emilianidou, who championed the initiative.

On launching the centre in the midst of an economic crisis, Limassol mayor Nicos Nicolaides said his municipality “could not close our eyes to a phenomenon troubling the citizens of Limassol, Cypriots and non-Cypriots”.

“So we made the political decision to deal with this matter and in our decision we found a helper and supporter, in the face of the late Zeta Emilianidou, as well as in the staff of the then ministry of labour and social welfare”.

Nicolaides explained that the centre opened in July to provide shelter to homeless individuals or families, however emphasizing that its central goal is to help them reenter society.

“My presence here today aims to send the message that the state is a helper, a supporter, and a good partner for local administrations and non-governmental organisations,” Anthousi said, adding that as the first point of contact between the public and the state, local governments have an important role to play in matters of social welfare.

“Therefore they can diagnose issues more easily and develop better reflexes, enabling them to kick off social interventions in collaboration with the state to implement programmes in a timely manner”.

The deputy minister explained that initially Schedia was created as a homeless shelter, but it soon became apparent that homelessness goes hand in hand with other social issues, which called for more holistic support that would help people reintegrate into society, eliminating social exclusion.

“Schedia has managed to focus not just on providing temporary shelter, but on helping these people reintegrate into society, find a job and a permanent place to live”.

What is also very important, she added, is that the centre has records of the profile of each person or family it has helped, which it can refer to for preventative interventions.

“As they say in medicine, prevention is better than treatment. This way, we won’t have to run whenever the need arises for an emergency intervention, because we will have eliminated the need in the first place,” she said.

Social worker Christina Tsiambarta, Schedia’s coordinator, said it was the first centre in Cyprus providing specialised support and services to people facing the risk of homelessness, offering day care services, psychosocial support, counseling and guidance, housing and work counseling, interventions on the street (street work), 24-hour report line, training, information, awareness and finally, collection of statistical data for continuous monitoring and evaluation of the issue.

Referring to the statistics, she said that of the 556 cases that asked for help with finding stable accommodation, in the last three years, 213 (41 per cent) received support and found a stable place to live.

The rest are cases that either did not want to follow a housing plan, or were people who left Cyprus or moved to another district, she added.

Tsiambarta noted that the centre monitors with those who are homeless by choice – about 24 people – and is ready to help at any time, while for 25 more cases where a recurring pattern has been observed, the centre acts preventively.

In the first half of 2022 there were 53 reports of people who were homeless, with Schedia staff carrying out 36 on-site interventions in the community, 109 special interventions that included home visits and accompaniment to medical consultations or other services and 280 counseling meetings.

The coordinator also highlighted the hurdles faced by the homeless attempting to reintegrate and find accommodation, such as the minimal availability of houses with affordable rent, the limited work skills or functionality of some homeless people and the negative attitude from owners and employers, due to prejudice, towards the specific individuals.

“Statistics are our guides in designing new interventions and prevention is key in stopping a housing situation,” she said.

“Mental health and recurring cases concern us, and may require the creation of more specialised structures for people with mental health issues”.

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