The shelter for homeless persons located at 2 Haltei St turned out to be too small for the large number of people who went there last winter and Mayor of Chisinau Dorin Chirtoaca asked that its capacity be extended. Contacted by IPN, the shelter’s director Ruslan Chelmenciuc said this thing didn’t happen yet because there is no relevant decision of the Chisinau Municipal Council (CMC). Without such a decision, the shelter’s capacity cannot be extended.

“The Council must take a decision to change the purpose of the rooms and that’s all. It is the CMC that must take such a decision, not the mayor as the mayor wants, but the Council decides,” stated Ruslan Chelmenciuc. He added that they are preparing a social project for a shelter with the capacity of 500 people and 200 reserve places. The project could be implemented not only at municipal level, but also at country level. For this to happen, the Ministry of Landor, Social Protection and Family must become involved.

According to Ruslan Chelmenciuc, the shelter can now accommodate 35 women and 35 men. The number of those who come to the shelter has increased over the last few weeks following the decrease in temperatures. Thus, there were 50-70 people at night and 15-25 people during the day at the shelter last week. They included mainly elderly people and persons with disabilities.