Presentation given by Carlo Carminucci, Italy, at a FEANTSA Research Conference on "Homelessness, Migration and Demographic Change in Europe", Pisa, Italy, 2011

1. Social Action Models And
Homeless Support Service Mapping
For Some Major European Train
Stations
Carlo Carminucci, Isfort
Interdisciplinary
Center 'Sciences
EUROPEAN RESEARCH CONFERENCE for peace’
Homelessness, Migration and Demographic Change in Europe
Pisa, 16th September 2011

2. Contents
 The HOPE project: an overview
 The research process and the
methodological approach
 The network of social organizations: a brief
description and comparative analysis
 Emerging common issues
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3. Contents
 The HOPE project: an overview
 The research process and the
methodological approach
 The network of social organizations: a brief
description and comparative analysis
 Emerging common issues
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4. The global framework (1)
 The “HOPE in stations” (Homeless People in European train
stations) project aims at improving the organization of the service
provided to homeless people in and around railway stations.
 The global objective is to experiment train stations as places for
organized services towards homeless people:
 by setting up a reference authority in the railway stations of
the project, in charge of the coordination between all
interventions towards itinerant people in the train stations
 by exchanging best practices and comparing different types of
organizations among partners
 by developing a shared core of knowledge on wandering
people;
 and ultimately by developing a consensus among the partners
about what should be done on the local, national and
European level to solve the problems of homeless people
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5. The global framework (2)
The assumptions of the HOPE project to be tested are the
following:
 the difficulties that itinerant people must face imply the
intervention of various organizations: publics services (health,
employment, housing….), social organizations (NGOs) and railway
companies
 the quality of the collaboration between very diverse stakeholders
in a determined place (here a train station) can be an important
factor in the capacity of a homeless person to get one solution to
his/her very need
 therefore, the partners of the project should be of three types:
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railway companies, public authorities and social organizations
Europe

6. The global framework (3)
Consequently, the partnership of the HOPE project has been
formed by the following subjects:
 3 active national project teams (7 active members): France (ANSA
- Agence nouvelle des Solidarité s actives, coordinator of the project,
SNCF), Belgium (Secretary of State for social integration and
poverty, SNCB-Holding, La Strada) and Italy (Ferrovie dello Stato,
Europe Consulting)
2 partners with an intermediate status: Germany (Bahnhofsmission)
and Luxembourg (CFL)
2 associated national project teams: Poland (Polskie Koleje
Pantswò we) and Spain (Fundaciò n de los ferrocarriles espa ň oles)
 2 research centres (in charge of the evaluation): Centre for social
inclusion, ZSI (Vienna) and ISFORT (Rome)
 1 European representation: FEANTSA
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7. The global framework (3)
 A European-level partnership
3 Partner countries
2 Partner countries
with an
intermediate status
2 associated
countries
Global duration of the project
2 years (January 2010-
December 2011)
Public fundings
European Commission
(mostly), Department for
Social Cohesion (France),
High Commissioner for active
inclusion against poverty
(France) , Secretary of state
for social integration and
poverty (Belgium)
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8. The social mapping
Fig. 1
Global Framework of the HOPE in stations
Project
Socio-political Analys is & Social mapping
J . Da m on & IS F OR T (via na tiona l re s e a rc he rs )
Railway Public
NGOs
companies authorities
National project team
The reference authority
Evaluation of the impact
ZS I (v ia n a tiona l re s e a rc he rs )
 Source: ANSA
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9. Contents
 The HOPE project: an overview
 The research process and the
methodological approach
 The network of social organizations: a brief
description and comparative analysis
 Emerging common issues
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Europe

10. The objectives of the social mapping
 The main objective of the social mapping is to
draw a quantitative and qualitative map of the
social organisations that provide support and
assistance services to the homeless in the railway
station or in the area around the station
 In more general terms, the social mapping should
describe, for each station, the profile of a model
that can be applied for intervention (assuming
that there is one!) in situations involving social
exclusion, focussing attention on the homeless
and highlighting the strong and weak points of the
model in question
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11. The railway stations involved
The survey concerned the railway stations in five European
capitals partner of the HOPE project: the 3 active partners –
France, Italy and Belgium – and the 2 partners with an
intermediate status – Germany and Luxembourg.
The involved railway stations are the following:
 Paris, Gare du Nord (including the nearby Gare de l’Est)
 Rome, Termini Station
 Brussels, Central Station
 Berlin, Zoo Station
 Luxembourg (main Station)
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12. Rome Termini Station: key figures
 Located in the city center
- I Municipality
 After the refurbishment of
1999 the RTS increase its
role as “city station”
 Daily attendance of about
600000 people
 The most important
interchange of urban and
metropolitan transport
The only quantitative data available on the presence of homelessness are
those provided by the Help Center through its monthly monitoring report
Total average Station Platform
March 115 21
April 90 26
May 88 21
June 92 30
July 48 24
August EUROPEAN 40
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13. Paris Gare du Nord (and Gare de l’Est): key figure
> 800000 passengers per day, this means that is one of the most
important rail junction in the world
Homeless at and near the station
 Permanent homeless in the station: >20
 Homeless that pass regularly through in station : 150-200
 Homeless around the station and on the whole in the Xè me
arrondissement: 600-800 depending on season
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14. Brussels Central Station: key figures
A central railway station strictly
connected to the other railway
stations (especially North and South)
140000 passengers per day
Homeless presence: a survey carried out by La Strada (nov 2008)
N° de zone femme homme Non précisé Enfant <18 Somme
Nord 4 50 0 54
Central 2 16 0 18
Midi 12 59 0 71
Centre Bourse Brouckère grand place 3 36 1 40
Reste Pentagone 2 20 14 2 38
En dehors du Pentagone (+Zaventem) 0 16 25 41
23 197 40 2 262
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15. Berlin Zoo Station: key figures
 120000 passengers
per day
 no longer a national
and international
railway junction, but
the most important
urban and regional
junction (about 400
railway lines)
 a station with a strong
symbolic value: a
meeting place for drug
dealing and street
prostitution in the 70s
and 80s
 it 'has been
refurbished in the 90s,
with an improvement
of its security
conditions About 400 meals distributed daily in the
station for homeless who hang up there
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16. Luxembourg Station: key figures
 it’s at the same time the national railway station
and and an intenational railway station
 from 2006 the station was completely
refurbished, with a particular extension of the
commercial area
About 200-250 homeless in the city
About 60 homeless around the station
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17. The research framework
1. Description of the “supply side”: social services providers, showing a qualitative and
quantitative map of their services and interventions with a specific focus on homeless
persons
Methods:
• Semi-structured face-to-face interviews with service providers
• Analysis of available documentation (users’ monitoring, level of the services provided etc)
• Evaluations (to be drawn with the agencies’ staff)
2. Description of the “demand side” (homeless people), identifying needs of homeless people
at the train stations
Methods:
• Participant observation
• Semi-structured interviews with service providers and other stakeholders
• Framework to collect data and information
3. Stakeholders analysis (railway company staff, security staff shopkeepers/owners,
administrative bodies): focus on relations with social services providers and homeless
people
Method: semi-structured interviews
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18. Two relevant methodological points
1) The target group (“Homeless”)
A person is said to be “homeless” if during the month before the survey he/she
experienced one of the following situations:
sleeping in an emergency or transitional shelter/hostel
sleeping in a place not initially intended for living (streets, parks, railways,
cellars, squats, etc.)
and at the day of the survey is not an owner, occupier or tenant of a private,
independent dwelling
2) The social organisations (“Core network”)
The general criteria adopted to identify the core network of the social
organisations which are relevant for the purposes of the survey are the
following: the organisations that provide “core” services for the homeless and
 operate directly within the station or
 have a location inside the station or
 provide some type of information inside the station
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19. The research activity performed: a
summary
Table 1. Summary of the research activities performed
Preparatory activities Research tasks
Training and Observations of Social
Pre- Stakeholders
methodological participants organisations
testing interviewed
workshop performed surveyed
Rome
X X X 10 6
Termini Station
Paris 15
X (no) (no) 6
Gare du Nord (+ 3 “institutional”)
Berlin
X (no) X 10 -
Zoo Station
Brussels
X (no) (no) 8 7
Central Station
Luxembourg
- (no) (no) 4 -
Station1
Total 47 19
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20. Contents
 The HOPE project: an overview
 The research process and the
methodological approach
 The network of social organizations: a brief
description and comparative analysis
 Emerging common issues
EUROPEAN RESEARCH CONFERENCE
Homelessness, Migration and Demographic Change in
Europe

21. The distribution of social organizations
by type, financial sources and staff profile
(in brackets the number of Paris Brussels Berlin Luxembou
Rome (10)
organizations investigated) (12) (8) (10) rg (4)
Charitable/informal
Type of 4 0 6
organizations
organizati
on Non-
profit/Institutional 12 6 8 4 4
organizations
Organizations
4 7 1 6 1
of religious affiliation
Mostly subsidies 7 3 5 1 2
Financial Mostly donations 6 1
sources
Both subsidies and
5 1 2 9 2
donations
Only volunteers 2 6 1
Only employees 4 1 6 6 3
Staff
profile Both volunteers and
6 3 1 4 1
employees
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22. The distribution of social organizations by type
of services provided *
Paris (12) Rome (10) Brussels (8) Berlin (10)
Listening and identifying homeless’ needs 9 4 8 10
Distribution of meals 6 7 3 7 (+3)
Ddistribution of blankets 3 3 5 4 (+4)
Distribution of clothes 2 3 4 7 (+3)
Temporary shelter to sleep and wash 2 3 2 3 (+6)
Permanent night shelter 1 1 (+2) 2 (+7)
Canteen 1 1 (+1) 3 2 (+7)
Medical assistance and infirmary 2 3 (+1) 6 (+1) 3 (+7)
Psychological assistance 3 1 4 10
Support/guidance for social inclusion 7 2 (+4) 6 10
Support / guidance to get a house 2 1 (+1) 5 (+3) 4 (+6)
Support / guidance to get a job 6 1 (+1) 2 (+3) 1 (+2)
General legal assistance 3 1 (+2) 1 (+3) 2 (+8)
Special services for drug/alcohol addicts/mental illness 1 1 4 (+3) 1 (+9)
Special services for specific sub-populations 7 5 3 (+7)
Other (access to internbet, phone, post address, safe
? 2 4 5 (+5)
deposit, public relations etc)
*In brackets if the service is indirect or it’s only orientation
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23. The “Italian model”: Help Centers National
Network (1)
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24. The “Italian model”: Help Centers National
Network (2)
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25. Contents
 The HOPE project: an overview
 The research process and the
methodological approach
 The network of social organizations : a
brief description and comparative analysis
 Emerging common issues
EUROPEAN RESEARCH CONFERENCE
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Europe

26. About the beneficiaries of the services…
Main new (and old?) needs
Relevant trends
The housing problem is
The sharp increase in
crucial
foreigners (and
irregular)
An increasing need for
medical care
More residents who
have suddenly become
An increasing need for social
poor
inclusion
The age is lowering
The access to the social
service for illegal
Mental health problems
immigrants (in Berlin this
are much more frequent
problem is very complex)
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27. Key issues concerning of the social service
network (1)
The effectiveness of the work of social organizations,
1 as well as the overcoming of the shortage of certain services,
depends on citizen welfare system...
….. but also depends on the choice of the organizations themselves,
2 such as the long-term work on the individual person
…and depends on the integration with the set of existing services in the city
3…and depends on the integration with the set of existing services in the city
on the ability to work collaboratively , on doing more training
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28. Key issues concerning of the social service
network (2)
Besides, shouldn't miss some attention
4
to the political commitment and to the promotion of voluntary work
Railway companies are doing much (although not everywhere
5 in the same way), but there are still uncertainties about their real
intentions; and stakeholders in general appear still little convinced
of the validity of the commitment to solidarity in the stations
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29. Social Action Models And
Homeless Support Service Mapping
THANKS FOR YOU ATTENTION!
THANKS FOR YOU ATTENTION!
For Some Major European Train
Stations
Carlo Carminucci, Isfort
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Europe