A guide for the homeless has been published in Moscow

The next edition of the handbook for the homeless has been published in Moscow. According to the website of the Moscow Patriarchate, the directory contains information about places where homeless people can spend the night, eat and get help for free.

More than 15 thousand copies of the directory were published by the Helper and Patron charity foundation with the assistance of the Russian Orthodox Church. Each directory provides addresses and telephone numbers of free canteens, shelters and hostels in the capital, as well as institutions where medical, social and emergency assistance can be provided to the homeless.

The directory has already been published in 2011, 2012 and 2014 through donations from private individuals. This year, the republication of the directory was made possible by a subsidy from the capital's Public Relations Committee.

“Since the last edition - in 2014 - a lot of new information has appeared. New help services opened at churches, Orthodox shelters for the homeless appeared in the Moscow region, which became part of the church system of helping the homeless. The operating hours of some state and public organizations have also changed,” said Ilya Kuskov, one of the compilers of the directory, head of the homeless assistance department of the Synodal Department for Charity.

The directory will be distributed free of charge to charitable organizations and churches. It can also be downloaded from the official website of the Synodal Department for Charity.

According to the human rights ombudsman in Moscow, there are between 10 and 12 thousand homeless people in the capital. More than half of them came from other regions, about a quarter were residents of Moscow and the region, and the rest were foreign citizens.