Homelessness in russia: current situation and directions for development of social policy[Бездомность В России: Текущая Ситуация И Направления Развития Социальной Политики]

Homelessness is an acute social problem about which there is little scientific data in Russia, which emphasizes the relevance of this paper. The purpose of the study is to analyze the current situation with homelessness and identify changes that are taking place in the sphere of support for homeless citizens. The objectives of the research are to analyze the available data on the number of homeless people in Russia, as well as to analyze the situation in the sphere of assistance to homeless people. The methods used include analyzing data from the 2002, 2010, and 2021 All-Russian Population Census, analyzing data from the 2005-2022 Statistical Form 4-Sobes, and interviews with experts from the nonprofit sector. The object of the study is homelessness in Russia. The subject of the study is the current situation in the sphere of assistance to homeless citizens. The results of the study show that the All-Russian census has a huge potential to collect data on homeless people of different categories, which is not actually realized today. The data of administrative statistics show a sharp decrease over the last 10 years in the number of homeless people served by specialized state institutions, which can be associated with a decrease in supply on the part of the system of institutions, rather than with a radical decrease in the need for such services. There have been a number of positive changes in the sphere of assistance to homeless people in Moscow over the last 10 years. At the same time, there are still lots of unresolved problems. The obtained results contribute to the development of ideas about the current situation with homelessness in Russia, the barriers to exit from homelessness. The paper presents the directions of social policy development in the sphere of support for citizens caught in the situation of homelessness.