Focus on Poznan (PL): Our respons to the housing needs of the underprivileged

The participation of the City of Poznan to the URBACT ROOFproject, led to the creation of an application to monitor people in crisis of homelessness. The aim is to have a uniform methodology to count the homeless in Poznan. A social worker would mark the place of meeting with a homeless person and record basic data about that person in an integrated system. The application will enable the exchange of data concerning the situation of the homeless and will improve the recording of the scale of homelessness in Poznan. Additionally, within the framework of the project representatives of the Office of Housing Affairs will prepare a Local Action Plan that will define the problems connected with homelessness in Poznan and will formulate a concept of solving them. The Plan will also include the concept of unification of methodology of counting the homeless.

In order to implement the project the Office of Housing Affairs formed the URBACT Local Group, which consists of the representatives of the Poznan City Hall, NGOs, the City Police, the City Centre for Family Support, the First Apartment Foundation, the Management of Municipal Housing Resources Ltd. and the Homeless Centre No. 1 in Poznan.

Besides this, The City of Poznan organizes some important other Housing projects:

1. Social rent of premises with support – the program is addressed to persons awaiting support in the area of social assistance and entitled to conclude a contract of lease of social premises on the basis of: list of persons entitled to social rent established by a separate ordinance of the President of Poznan, and an outstanding court sentence. In accordance with the program's guidelines, municipal apartments with an area exceeding 80 m² were renovated. Next, the apartments were divided into separate premises with a common area containing a kitchen, a bathroom and a corridor as well as a common room serving as a training room. The training room was handed over for use to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) selected in an open bid to entrust the realization of a public task. Individual independent premises were equipped with a couch, a table with chairs, a closet, shelves and a kitchenette. As part of the program, beneficiaries are placed in supported apartments, taking into account their current social situation, i.e. health condition, age. The support that the beneficiaries can expect from the operators includes: preparation to function in independent housing through the process of social and economic rehabilitation, acquisition and maintenance of skills of perception of social norms or self-care, support in legal, housing and budget management. As of January 2022, the program includes 50 apartments or 162 units with support. 
    
2. Senior Studio Apartments – comfortable studio apartments for people 65 and older in a convenient location. Studio apartments for seniors are newly created independent units that have been separated from large units over 80 m², equipped with a kitchenette and a bathroom. The aim of the program is to improve the housing conditions and quality of life of seniors, to adjust the area of occupied apartments to their needs, and to create a tool enabling the simultaneous implementation of housing and social assistance tasks. An additional source of support for seniors are activities consisting in providing assistance in the form of care services, including in the form of telecare and other services dedicated to elderly or disabled persons. Activities addressed to seniors are provided by the Poznan City Hall, municipal organizational units and municipal companies, within the tasks performed by a given entity and in accordance with its financial plan. The program covers 9 studio apartments.
    
3. Point qualification system - In Poznan, the principle of placing on the lists of persons entitled to conclude a contract of lease of municipal housing according to the point qualification system has been implemented. Applications for housing aid submitted by residents which meet the income criterion are qualified according to the point qualification system, within which specified circumstances (elements of the applicant's situation) have an impact on the assessment of the submitted application. Based on the scoring of all submitted applications, a list of persons waiting for the municipal housing allocation is prepared. The order in which they are placed on the list is determined by the number of points they received. Points are given, among others, to disabled people, homeless people, people living in poor technical condition, people suffering from domestic violence, seniors over 70 years old, people living in allotment gardens. Additional points are also given to families with many children and single parents.

The realization of the presented programmes and actions aims at satisfying the need of housing safety that promotes development of a person, undertaking professional activity and eliminates a sense of social exclusion. A person who does not have to worry about their place of residence can fully realise their goals, dreams and career, which leads to sustainable economic development of the city and the country.