Why Prague's homeless are resorting to poverty tourism

7:57
"German prices, with Czech wages."

That's a very good way to describe the situation.

I love that the journalist Richard is walking with a cane. His disability isn't hidden and it's nothing to be shameful about. It's something small but appreciated.

The disparity between obscenely wealthy and obscenely poor grows everyday unfortunately 🙏

Thank you for this reporter. Really. After Stroke I have difficulties walking and don't really feel like leaving my house because I'm sick of being stared at. For once I could feel normal. Maybe I can over come this..

Londoner in Prague since 2015. Live in Prague 2.

The level of homelessness in Prague is nowhere near as bad as it is in London, Kyiv, or Moscow where I lived before.

Prague has an incredible quality of life compared to any other city I lived in. I'm grateful to the CR for not booting me out when Brexit happened!

Prague is severely gentrified because of massive tourism. There aren't enough flats for the locals because they're being used as airbnbs or hostels. Same as berlin or barcelona

Middle class is shrinking everywhere, as power continues centralizing. . .The first trillionaire is expected to emerge in a few years.

Homeless tours is a good idea when done with dignity, tourists need educating, most repeatedly visit Prague and other cities that have become popular in past few years with party crowds who are clueless about how poor people are out priced from housing but then the local government need that tourism money if there’s not other industry.

They should do this in many countries, not only homeless but also to speak about the impact if tourism on citizens.

As a Czech person I personally think the homelessness reflects our mental health crisis. Only 4% off the entire budged for healthcare goes to mental health. Majority of our homeless people are mentally ill or suffering from severe addiction that is often a result of harsh upbringing or mental illness. Hospitals are understaffed, old and lack proper funding. Very few people can get the care they need, if they´re on substances then it´s almost a lost fight. Living with mental illness or adiction can make it impossible to keep a job and only a small portion of people get disability for these issues. Society is still pretty judgemental towards people with mental health issues, so many of those who choose to be homless are feeling more content with living on the streets.

Not all of them are mentally ill, but they can be antosocial or just not fit in. Street life is more welcomning towards "damaged" people. I spent a lot of time around homless and it´s true many of the just don´t want to get off the streets, once they experience the "freedom" of this life they don´t want to let it go no matter how harsh the conditions are. There is a big sense of community, yet they have to be careful around one another. I think many people would not be on the street if they never got to experience it in the first place, but with our mental heath care it´s inevitable for the ones with no support network and severe mental illness.

What I found interesting while in Prague in 2016 in the old city was that the beggars were usually on silent their knees in prayer postion and not aggressively harassing you
Its the taxi drivers you had to worry about.

Coming from india, i really enjoyed the poverty tour..i felt sorry initially for them but realized that this was means of income, so goving them this tour helped in feeding them for the day

How much of homelessness is caused by the rise of short term rentals (aka airbnbs) where flats are bought up by corporations and people are priced out of homes.

The situation is not as simple as this video tries to suggest. In the Czech Republic, unemployment has been low for a long time and there are many jobs open outside Prague for not very skilled people in manufacturing. They don't pay good wages and the work isn't fun, but it's enough to cover rent, food, clothing and other necessities. Unless a homeless person has a serious health problem( it doesn't matter if it's mental or physical), they don't have to live on the streets. For example, part of the narrative of the video is that refugees from Ukraine are also responsible for the situation, but according to official statistics, 93%(270 thousand people) of them are employed and have jobs, and these are people who did not speak the language two years ago, and their previous education and work experience are not accepted in many cases. So they have to work in lower job classifications than they had back home.

It is really easy to get some basic job in the Czech Republic (speaking from experience). The wages are not big, but they are enough to make a living. You just have to move outside of Prague to other regions.
I mean circa 270k Ukranians found job in two years without even knowing the language. They just didnt all go to Prague.

Same story all over the world.

The question is, does this help to get these people off the streets, or is this just an entertainment for richer people to act like they care? It feels like voyerism.

"Homelessness is on the rise globally, and the Czech Republic has the highest rate in central and eastern Europe." Where does this claim come from? I doubt that Slovakia has lower homeless rates than Czechia.

In Britain they come straight to you when they see you are a tourist. You don't need to go to Prague. Although I wish it was organized, just to know that they are really homeless and that they make sure that they are not drunk and not on drugs. Birmingham, let's start with you

What's the homeless rate in the UK vs, Czech Republic? Oh, that's right, 2.5 times more per 10K people in the Uk than in CR.