As the Avgi storm has brought a cold front and heavy rainfall throughout Attica, Athens authorities have been placed on high alert to deal with emergencies.
As the Avgi storm has brought a cold front and heavy rainfall throughout Attica, Athens authorities have been placed on high alert to deal with emergencies.
The Municipality of Athens was put on alert on Wednesday as a cold snap descended on the Greek capital, mobilizing the services responsible for the protection of more vulnerable citizens and the homeless.
A document forwarded to Parliament on Wednesday by the Deputy Minister of Immigration and Asylum, Sofia Voultepsi, shows that a total of 4,255 children identified as homeless or in precarious living conditions have been housed in the last 2.5 years.
Athens Municipality has started to distribute backpacks filled with basic essentials for the winter to homeless people in the city. On Thursday evening, street work teams distributed backpacks to homeless people, each of which contained sleeping bags, blankets, jackets, water resistant trousers, thermos flasks, flashlights and whistles.
The Municipality of Athens is providing subsidized housing, training and work to a total of 56 homeless citizens under its Housing and Work for the Homeless program, which is funded by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs to the tune of 826,356 euros.
As temperatures are already dropping below freezing in the capital Athens and freezing nights are expected to last into the middle of the coming week, municipal employees are trying to convince the city’s homeless to find shelter.