There is intense concern in the social services of the municipality of Thessaloniki about them homeless people due to the strong heat prevailing in the country from today. In fact, the most dangerous days, according to meteorologists, are from Friday to Sunday, when temperatures are expected to exceed 40 degrees Celsius.

Already the Streetwork team and the Municipal Police, as in the previous heat wave, are visiting the places where the homeless are and informing them again about the structures of the municipality and their extended opening hours. At the same time, they offer them cold bottles of water, for even a small breath of coolness.

Meanwhile, the vice-mayor of Social Policy has requested prosecutorial intervention for three people who are out on the street, in order to be transferred to either a structure or a nursing facility. As the responsible deputy mayor for Social Policy Ioanna Kosmopoulou explains to Voria.gr, these are elderly women who are facing health problems.

“Our intervention is purely about their health, these people are at risk. This action cannot be done for all the homeless”, he points out. The competent department of the municipality informed the Prosecutor’s Office about the incidents and the relevant instructions to the police authorities are now awaited. For the two incidents, the procedures had started since the previous days, when high temperatures prevailed again, while today the document was sent for the third person.

The problem, however, is that in the summer season, as well as in the winter, there are few homeless people who respond to the municipality’s call to visit the structures to protect themselves from the severe weather.

The municipality of Thessaloniki operates the Homeless Day Open Center, as well as the Homeless Dormitory housed at 62 Monastiriou Street and 5 Andreou Georgiou Street respectively, with extended hours.

Specifically, from today until Sunday 23-7-2023, the opening hours of the Homeless Day Center will be 09.00-19.00. The Homeless Dormitory for the same days will also operate with extended hours, i.e. 17.00-09.00 the next day.

In addition, all the services of the municipality, which are operating, have been informed on a 24-hour basis, to inform the people they meet, in homeless conditions, about the emergency operation of the homeless shelters, in order to protect themselves from extreme weather phenomena.