RIGA, Oct 13 (LETA) - Next week, overnight into October 22, a homeless count will take place in Riga, following a special methodology, as a result of which it is planned to obtain accurate data on the homeless people in the Latvian capital, LETA was told at the press office of Riga City Council.

The data is needed to plan the development of social services.

The city's local government in collaboration with the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences of the University of Latvia is participating in the European Homelessness Counts initiative, which will take place simultaneously in 35 European cities.

This is the first project of its kind to develop a uniform and replicable approach to counting homeless people. It involves using a uniform methodology to identify homeless people, learn about their living conditions, the causes of homelessness and the help they need.

The project aims to provide comparable data that will serve as a basis for more effective policy planning in this area. Until now, there has been no common approach in Europe to this type of inventory.

The Riga local government's participation in the project will allow counting those homeless people who already receive social assistance as well as rough sleepers. The data analysis will be shared with policy makers in order to develop assistance strategies and social services.

The homelessness count in Riga will be joined by researchers, social workers, municipal authorities and volunteers, including the Riga Welfare Department, the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences of the University of Latvia, the Riga Social Service, homeless shelters, a mobile unit for social work with the homeless on the street, crisis centers, municipal police, medical institutions and detention facilities.

The city will be divided into zones in which the surveying of the homeless will be carried out to obtain data on people without permanent places of residence, their situation and necessary support mechanisms and solutions.

On November 24, 2023, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling on the EU and its member states to eradicate homelessness by 2030 by developing an EU framework for national strategies, decriminalizing homelessness and continuing to provide funding to tackle the problem.