annual report Nochlezhka, Interregional charitable organization helping the homeless Address in St. Petersburg: 112B, Borovaya Street, 192007, St. Petersburg Office in St. Petersburg: +7 812 407 39 37 Counselling Service in St. Petersburg: + 7 812 407 30 90 Address in Moscow: We help people get off the streets 2/2-6, Bumazhny proezd, 125040, Moscow Office in Moscow: +7 499 322 04 29 Counselling service in Moscow: + 7 499 322 04 27 homeless.ru vk.com/nochlezhka facebook.com/Homeless.ru instagram.com/nochlezhka t.me/nochlezhka This report features photographs taken by Artem Leshko, Diana Mindubaeva, Evfrosinia Kapustina, Svetlana Bulatova, Dmitry Fufaev, Natalia Mikhailichenko, Alexey Loschilov, Valery Zaitsev, Victoria Tsvireneva, Ekaterina Balynskaya, Mikhail Balaev. Prepared by: Marina Arsenova, Daniel Alexandrov, Danil Kramorov Designer: Yulia Razumovskaya Translated by: Aleksandra Ershova You can always find out more about Nochlezhka’s work, our clients, employees, volunteers, partners and sponsors on our website homeless.ru 4 NOCHLEZHKA 2020 ANNUAL REPORT 5 Table Of Contents Nochlezhka’s Projects: What Makes Nochlezhka’s Projects A Letter from Nochlezhka’s Possible: President 5 18 Letter from Nochlezhka’s President Night Bus 78 Who supports Nochlezhka 6 26 Who we are and what we do Heated Tents 80 Volunteers of Nochlezhka 8 30 Who are the homeless Night Shelter 84 and why do they need help? Cooperation with businesses 34 10 Cultural Laundry 90 Causes of homelessness in 2020 Employment Project 38 12 Showering Facilities 92 Somehow, in an incredibly difficult 2020, we managed not In St. Petersburg, we connected the Night Shelter to Main achievements for 2020 Personal Stories only to keep all our projects running, but also to launch the water supply system. Up to forty people a night sleep 42 three new ones. Nochlezhka is alive and still helping peo- there all year round. Now the residents can have a shower, 13 Counselling Service 96 ple. Thank you because it would not have been possible as well as wash and dry their clothes. We have also made Nochlezhka’s plans for 2021 A Word of Thanks without your support and help. progress in the rehabilitation of homeless people: more training and psychological groups for the residents of our 50 In 2020, we opened the Counselling Service and start- shelters, and more people received vocational training and 14 Handout Point 100 ed running a Night Bus in Moscow. We now give out hot help with employment. Nochlezhka’s Team 2020 Financial Report meals, toiletries, and clothes. We provide the necessary 52 social and legal assistance to everyone who needs it. Inci- We have ambitious plans for 2021. We hope to open Rehabilitation Shelter 102 dentally, having a Night Bus in the capital was beyond our a rehabilitation shelter, a hand-out point, showering We are Happy to Be in Touch wildest dreams but during the pandemic it became abun- facilities and a laundry in Moscow: we witness the grow- 56 dantly clear how many people needed food, and thanks ing need for these every day. In St. Petersburg, we want Psychological Support to the support we received from the most unexpected to open a social cafe, where our clients can acquire new sources this project came about. Thank you! skills, friends can meet up, and all of us together can debunk stereotypes about homelessness. In addition, we 58 For over four years, we have been working on opening want to launch a new shelter for elderly homeless people Halfway Home showering facilities near the Ploshchad Muzhestva metro who do not fit into the state care system. station in St. Petersburg. In 2020, we finally succeeded, 62 and Neravnodush* appeared in the city: two showers, It is particularly difficult to make plans now, but it is Sharing Expertise washing machines and tumble dryers, and a toilet — all ac- impossible not to, because the main things in life remain cessible to people with disabilities. As with all Nochlezhka’s unchanged. People get into trouble, need support, help projects, anyone can use these showering facilities, free of others and find the right words even in the hardest of 66 charge, regardless of whether they have an ID or not. times. Thank you to everyone who supports Nochlezhka! Working with the State 70 Grigory Sverdlin and Nochlezhka’s team Raising Awareness *The name of the project is a play on the words caring and shower 6 NOCHLEZHKA 2020 ANNUAL REPORT 7 WHO WE ARE AND WHAT WE DO Our mission — Helping homeless people and those on the verge of homelessnes Ensuring that an efficient system of homelessness prevention, social rehabilitation and reintegration for the homeless is created in Russia Who We Are Our Goals What Are Do Why We Do It Nochlezhka is a non-profit organisation which has been We are striving for an evidence-based state, municipal and We do everything to help people return to stable lives. We It is extremely easy to end up on the street but getting helping homeless people in St. Petersburg to return public system of social rehabilitation of the homeless and feed them, keep them warm, help them sort out their pa- back to a stable life without professional help is nigh on to stable lives since 1990. homelessness prevention built on the principles of hu- pers, find a job and get professional training. We also help impossible. We know that no one is insured against manity, voluntary basis, respect for the individual and their with registering as a disabled person or applying for ben- the street and believe that one simply cannot turn a blind We are an NGO, so we raise funds ourselves: we collect rights, to be created in Russia. efits, getting admitted to care homes, looking for relatives eye to people in need. donations, look for sponsors, partners, grants and subsi- and returning home. dies. In 2018, Nochlezhka became and interregional We want the myths about homelessness and the homeless Our humanitarian projects save homeless people from organisation and opened a branch in Moscow. to be debunked; so that our society stops being divided We challenge fraudulent real estate transactions and de- starving or freezing on the street and help them maintain into “us” and “them”. We no longer want to hear anyone say, fend the rights of people with no registration. We share their health and human dignity. Our rehab projects are de- In 2020, Nochlezhka turned 30 years old. ‘there is no need to help them, it’s their own fault’. the expertise we have acquired over many years of work signed to significantly improve the lives of homeless people with our colleagues so that more people can effectively and help them get off the streets. Through our projects de- We want the rights of people without registration to be provide professional assistance to the homeless all across signed to defend the rights of people with no registration, no different from the rights of people with registration. Its the country; we develop ‘sample projects’, which can be papers or home, thousands of people get access to public absence should not affect the ability to exercise all consti- used as a model and adapted to any particular region. We services and healthcare. We tell the public how people tutional rights. try to change the general public’s attitude towards home- end up on the street and why they need help to return to less people and homelessness. We raise the issue on the a stable life to make the society kinder and more tolerant. federal level and suggest improvements to the legislation to protect those in need. 8 NOCHLEZHKA 2020 ANNUAL REPORT 9 WHO THE HOMELESS ARE AND WHY THEY NEED HELP There is no official statistics on the number of homeless people in Russia. Nochlezhka’s experts estimate that between 50,000 and 60,000 people live on the streets of St. Petersburg. Our calculations are based on annual statistics on deaths and hospitalisations of homeless and non-homeless residents of the city. We know less about Moscow for now, but it is clear that there are even more homeless people there. The average age of a homeless person is 44 The level of education among homeless people is in line with the statistics for the entire Russian population: Almost all homeless people dream of getting off 85.25 % 28.13 % 23.57 % Higher education, the streets. They just need a little help. incomplete higher education This is what Nochlezhka does every day of homeless people are ex-convicts are Russian citizens 40.15 % Secondary In Russia, people without a residence registration cannot In Russia, people remain homeless for an average of five vocational exercise many of their rights: the right to work, the right years (based on the statistics collected at Nochlezhka’s to medical care, pension, social benefits and even voting Counselling Service), and most often die on the street, too. 27.66 % Secondary rights. Oddly enough, the rights are not attached to people In countries where there is an accessible and well- but to their residence. Nochlezhka has repeatedly come developed system for helping people in need, this period is 6.89 % Unfinished secondary forward with projects to improve the registration system, under a year. education 8.52 % 80.3 % but they all seem to fall on deaf ears: the lack of registra- 0.54 % Primary tion limits many constitutional rights. were brought up of the homeless 1.18 % No education There is very little help available for the homeless in Russia. in orphanages are men And even this assistance is not systematic, involves a lot of 11.20 % No answer red tape and is often simply inaccessible.