Published 4 days ago • loading... • Updated 4 days ago

Ship ahoy! Prague's homeless find safe haven on river boat

Hermes, a former river barge in Prague, opened as a homeless hostel in February 2007, operating nightly year-round to accommodate 180 people with 30 beds for women and 150 for men.
According to recent data, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development estimated 104,818 homeless in 2024 while the Czech Statistical Office counted 154,000 Czechs in acute housing crisis including 61,000 children; Jan Frantisek Krupa estimated homelessness between 30,000 and 70,000.
Clients at Hermes must be sober and climb a steep staircase to register, then can shower and have tea while cooking is banned, with Jaromir Cervenka overseeing the bustle.
To involve fellow citizens, the Salvation Army sold 25,000 vouchers this season as demand increased during a cold snap, Krupa said, `Many people, especially in large cities and on freezing nights, come over without any money and we want to make sure that this will not prevent them from sleeping at a Salvation Army dormitory.`
The Czech parliament passed a housing support law last June that will offer assistance from September 2026, and the former cargo barge on the Elbe was revamped into a homeless shelter, while the new government since December omits homelessness from its policy statement.

Insights by Ground AI