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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Truly heartbreaking. Also, I really like Richard as an interviewer and journalist. Very genuine.

"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.

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.

Same story all over the world.

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

Literally the same thing is happening in Los Angeles but homelessness is treated as a crime.

THE ISSUE YOU TOUCHED ON is OUTSIDE REAL ESTATE SPECULATION, grabbing up housing cause a crush that gets to the lowest levels as each income is pushing to find housing....Portugal the same they had to cut back on some speculaton the locals CANNOT AFFORD 1st world prices...

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.

Czechia - ouch. Otherwise, I have gotten to know one formerly homeless in Prague and he said that the vast majority of homeless chose this lifestyle because it suits them. There are tons of jobs, but you should be sober and off drugs for that. Same for the shelters. This was a couple of years ago, the situation might have gotten worse since then.

This is absolutely spot on. Extremely pricise depiction of the current state of affairs. I really hope this video gets attention of local mainstream media and most importantly the state officials.

Germany has the highest rate of homeless people. Please correct.

TBH dont know where is Guardian getting its numbers (on anything really). Looking at "List of sovereign states by homeless population" @wiki Czech Republic homeless population is nowhere near top in EU, lower than Germany, Sweden, Latvia, Serbia and many others, actually we are at 1/3 homeless population per capita compared to UK. Legacy media just sucks.

Ok, as czech person (not livingin czech rep anymore tho) I felt like im not the one who should have opinion about this video, but im 7:46 deep into the clip and I need to clarify some stuff: 1) the homelessnes and drug problems are overlaping by lets say 75%, so 3/4 of people on the streets are doing drugs, solving drug problems will help with homelessness 2) I have traveled 40+ countries and 5 continents and it would be pretentious to say "ohh but theres more homeless people in Bogota than in Prague", but compared to other european capitals, Prague´s homelessnes is definitelly not something shocking, not extremly low, but also not extremly high 3) prices in czech republic are insanely high, but unemployment rate is incredibly low; there´s so many jobs 4) no, czech government doesnt give ukrainian refugees any advantage compared to czech people. All these people in the video have been living on the streets way before war in the urkaine started. Im missing some editorial correction, cuz these people will blame everything on anyone, but just not themselves 5) I´ve taken the tour back in 2016 and even the guide was inflating everything and treated facts very loosely, I still feel like its better than nothing, even tho it kinda bind heir life to this sidejob and therefore lower their motivation to try really hard to get better life

I had no idea that such a lovely city as Prague had these kind of problems🤔

I went to Prague in 2018 and it was just beautiful but i did notice there were quite a few really nice shops surrounded by some worn down areas too.

I love Prague. ❤️ Great city! Much cleaner than any city in the US

The core root of the problem is tourists from other parts of Europe mostly from the west of Europe flocking to Prague in the bus loads for a cheaper holiday then they would in their own country causing accommodation prices to sky rocket which then local people in Prague no longer can afford the rent because the high demand of tourists wanting accommodation. Even a low budget hostel is no longer affordable and then you have the Ukrainian women and children refugees on top of that need housing causing rents to soar through the roof. I left Prague 2 years ago for this exact reason. It was only a rent crisis every thing else like food prices remained the same. Flew back to my Home country New Zealand because i could no longer bare the increase costs in serviced accommodation when the EU borders re opened after coronavirus lockdown.

I remember watching a BBC programme that re=enacted Victorian practices and voyeuristic poverty tourism of touring the slums was part of it

Guardian filling the space that Vice left

The enduring financial disparity down the generations has made pointing it out a yawning cliché. Yet, its presence is more evident than ever. In recent years, we've witnessed the largest transfer of wealth unfold right before our eyes, effectively erasing the middle class worldwide and leaving many struggling to maintain basic necessities like shelter and food. The individuals holding senior roles in government and corporations couldn't care less about us and would much rather we shut up, took our 'jabs', and died while pocketing our taxes in the process. The world's failure to come to a standstill and confront this truth, holding those in power accountable, underscores our lack of self-trust, which is exactly how the system continues to perpetuate itself. If there's one man whose work you should read, it's Václav Havel's "The Power of the Powerless." If this were mandatory reading in schools, perhaps we would have a better chance of learning how to resist and fight back.

this is a world wide problem in most cities.

Sorry, but first: Czech republic for sure does not have the highest rate of homeless people in the Central Europe, and definitely not in Eastern Europe.. And second: Czech rep. has the lowest unemployment rate in the whole EU since 2015, raging between 2-3%, therefore there is nothing easier for them than to get a job.. I'm local, so I know the situation very very good - if there is a homeless, it's due to his inaction, not because of our society... Get your facts straight next time and don't try to blame us!!

I took a 2 month tour of Europe a few years ago, and i gotta say CR was the most ghetto (and also the most beautiful in some places) that i ever been to...there were a lot of homeless people, lots of ratchet shops, but at the same time the churches and holy sites were pristine and beautiful. LOVED IT! Reminded me a bit of oakland and san francisco...but european if that makes sense

The complaints about Ukrainians are idiotic. The Czech Republic paid a lot of money to Ukrainians upfront - yes. But since that time, it has been recorded, that the Ukranian refugees have already paid enough in taxes to compensate for that. Before you talk about unemployment - the Czech republic has consistently been one of the countries with a the lowest unemployment rates.

Bless the kind people working at those centers and shelters.

It's commendable to see initiatives shedding light on the complexities of homelessness in Prague while offering support to those in need. Addressing homelessness requires a multifaceted approach involving both community engagement and government action. 🏠💙

Excellent.

A couple months ago i saw one of those hour length videos on RU-vid picturing the disastrous situation of Philadelphia and San Francisco. I said myself “thank god I live in Europe”. But boy, was I wrong. Saw some other videos shot in Bruxelles, Frankfurt Am Main, Paris and the situation is the same. Drug addiction and homelessness on the rise. Even in my hometown Milan, Italy there’s a lot of bad sh*t going on: mostly crime and lot of rapes. It turns out it’s not just America, it’s Europe as well.

Take a trip to Dublin,its crazy and getting worse

What are the business billionaires doing to help end poverty, address homelessness and the issues faced by the disabled? They have the money and power to influence and contribute funds without denting their pockets. They’ve benefited from our expenditure, why don’t they do more?

It got much worse in last few years, we have the most expensive housing and energy compared to salaries in whole Europe. It's such extreme that rent of some proper apartment can be like 30 000 CZK, but you earn like 25 000-30 000/month, people can't handle this anymore, when one person in apartment lost job, you are screwed. And in Prague there is a massive problem that industry was removed and only services and restaurants stayed, which means low paid jobs. Average in Prague is higher only because of headquaters of companies, politicians and such people. Now I live in village and I have better salary than most of people I know in Prague. All governments are constantly saying that they know about housing problem, but nobody did anything to improve it, we still have the worst buerocracy in the world and when you buy a land, it can take like 15 years to get all approvements and start with construction, that's why housing is that expensive here. Recently some guy from Vienna was complaining that he has to pay 500 eur for one room apartment in Vienna and how expensive it is. 😀 Jesus, people, you don't know what EXPENSIVE means, you are living like gods there.

I can't believe he's so insensitive as not to wait for a man who needs a cane to walk... a man who is paying him wages. No wonder he's jobless and homeless.

Thanks for wrapping some commentary around it and dressing it up as a documentary, now we can enjoy this poverty tourism by video without feeling guilty

highest homelessness? I didnt hear about that

I love cafe therapy! I had class in the back during my study abroad. Such a great NGO to highlight.

I would like to know how many Pragulic guides moved on. The tours are not cheap and the guides get less then a half of the money. I think it is extra money but I have my doubts about how ethical this whole project is.

They should do this in Vancouver

Man, now I want to visit Prague just to go on one of those tours!

When they mention Ukrainian refugees, journalists don't even ask what about 2 years ago. If those homeless have been living on the street for 10-15 years, in their own country where they spoke the language, but then started blaming Ukrainians who only arrived in 2022 and most got jobs ... after learning a new language, while being very stressed after seeing deaths and living under the shelling... Please ask those questions, and don't put a full stop after "I'm homeless because of Ukrainian refugees", because you make your viewers believe it's the reason, but it's not.

So many things to say here. Before we shit on Czech Republic too much, let's look at UK where millions live out of food banks or Ireland where tens of thousands are officially homeless and tens of thousands more not included in homeless figures as they sleep in their childhood bedrooms or on a friend's couch or Germany which has 0.37% of it's population homeless. You will notice a number of problems with this video. Firstly it is isolated to Prague. If you walk around Ostrava or Brno street homelessness is not quite as dramatic/present. Here in Cesky Tesin it is practically non existent, so much so that the street homeless guys are all Poles from Cieszyn drinking beer in our parks, but usually they have a hostel to sleep in on the Polish side of town. Statistically Czechia is no worse than half the EU states. So we are really starting from a Praguecentric video that wants to portray the capital city, which has the most resources and NGOS and state bodies, and so is where most homeless people are likely to congregate, is being portrayed as the entire Czech Republic. They will claim they didn't say that explicitly but it's clearly implied. Of course it is horseshit, cos once you leave Prague, rough sleepers are very rare, those who are homeless, if sober, have a hostel bed at least. This is not some third world country, far from it. Next the video creator does not challenge the assertion about Ukrainians. They do get 150 days free housing BUT the Czech state has legal obligations with refugees, same thing as in Ireland, UK, Germoney etc. and that limit of 4 months is very strict, unless you are disabled or elderly as a Ukrainian, you MUST find a job and rent your own place after 3-4 months. These are people fleeing from a war zone and an economy of 38% unemployment. Anyone saying they do not deserve help is a moron, and the Czech state already cut the services to them back and reduced that help anyway. Anti Ukrainian sentiment is not uncommon in Czech Republic now because many people are uneducated on that; most Ukrainians do work, they have no choice after a few months but to work anyway. Jealousy and xenophobia are very common when people are poor or unemployed or homeless themselves, been there, seen that. A ''journalist'' paroting that without questioning it is being an amateur. Russian propaganda holds huge sway with a good 30% of Czechs, this BS should not be encouraged by the media. Also the Czech state DOES help people with emergency housing, unemploymebt benefit, free healthcare etc. , same rules as in Poland or other places, just be sober when going to the hostel. If you stay sober, you enter the hostel, you now have an address from which to sleep, use the internet to apply for jobs, eat, shower, wash clothes, survive til you find work. The other issue of shit Czech wages is the entire economy's business model. Me I am leaving soon cos I do not agree with that, especially as idiot Czech middle management of multinational employers are ending remote work now while not caring that they are centralisingour jobs in the 2 dearest cities just to justify to their overlords the huge office costs in Brno and Prague, it's ridiculous now that no companies will go to Ostrava, Olomouc etc. but all go to Prague and Brno for social status, pay the same wages as 5 years ago, never ever raise pay since 2022, and expect us to all be able to live in Prague and Brno and give up our affordable housing in regional towns. But that is a separate issue, it's called the middle income trap, and selfish behaviour of the older middle aged managerial class, at least Poland has some less expensive cities with jobs in them, here we just have regional imbalance. Bulgarian and Polish corporate incomes are already in some sectors at the same level as Czech ones or even slightly higher. What Czechia faces sadly is a slow decline until the urban property market is reformed and the regional imbalance is addressed.

I was just watching a video on a ramen seller in Japan. He had transformed his cart into a little hut complete with walls and chairs. So, for those who are homeless and don’t want to use the services, maybe there could be a temporary booth that can be transformed for the night where they can sleep.

Isn't Czech Republic a country with one of the lowest unemployment rates in EU? Also, I think poverty rate is quite low too compared with EU average.. Interesting how these stats fail to paint a rosier picture.

Another day in paradise Phil Collins (1989)

When I was a kid back in the 70’s, we talked a lot about population growth. Now it’s never discussed. Too many people and unsustainable shelter and food/water all over the world it seems

Good that you said central and eastern Europe. From my experience Czechs and Poles hate to be named as Eastern. Actually it's right when you look on the map, it's indeed central Europe.

4:55 It's the same problem here in the United States as well.

capitalism requires that there be an underclass to which those at the top of the heap, the aristocrats, can point and say to the people who create their wealth, "that'll be you, if you get it into your head that you are entitled to more"

I opened video to Ken more info on the problem, instead I’ve heard that the Ukrainians to blame. Some alcoholic who’ve been born and raised in Prague blames refugees. This is insane.

There should be a ban on foreign property purchase . The same is happening in Melbourne. Wealthy foreign citizens buying up property and leaving it there to appreciate. Take back your country and boot out foreign property speculators

The Czech government has tackled problems much more difficult than this before. It's not that Czech politicians are unable to solve the problem, it's that they aren't willing to because they don't really care that much.

Why the music?distracting

I volunteered at museum twice a year, it's a way to get close to what interest me. The volunteers get a free meal, refreshments, anl 2 free museums tickets. I always invite friends to use my free tickets or gave it to the church. Im unhoused, living in my van. In California, there are free phone or tablet with limited data for low income people. This can help with job search or connect to the library for job search.

At last! Someone talking about this. We've seen the homeless people growing and growing and also I am so happy finally one journalist acknowledged the atrocious job done by our useless and incompetent politicians regarding real estate Tragedy (it is not an emergency anymore) with prices that are the highest in the EU and salaries amongst the lowest in the EU. I really hope you will have another video about Prague's real estate tragedy, it affects everyone, poor people as well as the middle class: Prague's children will never own a place to live, this is not acceptable!

While it is truly sad that our country has a lot of homeless people, the country does not consist only of Prague. I am kinda baffled how many people think just and only of Prague when the name Czechia comes to the table. E: Also this video is clearly biased. I would explain it, but others here made better explanation that I could ever do, like @Dqtube's comment.

08:00 everywhere in Europe this is a huge problem... one group seem to not have the issue and can freely relocate anywhere while other countries seem to be defending their territories. I'm sure it's not so simple, but it shouldn't be this complex right?

As someone who was born and lives in the Czech Republic, I can say that this video is biased. And it unnecessarily creates a false narrative. You could have also included an interview with regular people. You'd probably be surprised what they'd tell you for an opinion. The Czech Republic has had low unemployment for a long time. This video doesn't even feature the regular homeless people you normally encounter around Prague. Quite a few of them will tell you anyway that they are happy this way because they make more money begging than working and they don't want to change that. Why would they work hard when they can just get money for free and then buy alcohol and be happy... I know people who work in NGOs in another region and they tell me that they are sometimes demotivated by the fact that some people have made poverty a lifestyle and have no motivation to change this situation. And it is also a business for NGOs because they get money from the government based on the number of "clients" so they have a reason to have as many as possible. As a kid my parents both earned less than the average wage and my mom worked most of the time for minimum wage. And we still didn't live badly. The families that did have financial problems almost always drank and smoked cigarettes or had some other vice they spent a lot of money on... But blame it on the government or Ukrainian refugees. LOL. I'm not saying there aren't problems here, but it's certainly not as bad as it might seem from this video.

A good initiative. I would wish however that they put equal effort in the homeless men as the homeless women because “stability” is not really what defines their life contrary to what the documentary implies. A prime example of “glass floor” thinking and “empathy gap”

We should do this in Canada too

There is an addiction vibe running in the background of this video. But Prague actually is not so bad, have you been to Frankfurt anytime in the past 10 years?

We once solved homelessness back in 60s and 70s and 80s but some idiot thought itd be a good idea to let people profit off of owning multiple houses

OMG 😢

8:18 zajímalo by mě, čím tato paní přispívá do společnosti vyjma kouření a stěžování si na vše. Typický český alibismus stěžování si na druhé, ale první je potřeba zamyslet se nad sebou....

I thing you should have provided translated names of the organisations to get some of the meaning across; so Naděje - Hope Jako doma - As at home Místní místním - Locals for locals Also, the situation of homelesness did not get worse with the Ukranian Refugees. It might got worse with the war and subsegments inflation and energy crisis.

This is so sad and f up.

Prague is rich and expensive. Well documented situation of abuse and addiction.

Why doesn't the Czechia just buy enough apartments so they can rent them out to the homeless people (and pay their rent OFC!) untill they can get a job etc. You cannot get homeless ppl off drugs or on mental health services, as long as they're on the streets. The rehabilitation to a life worth living starts with a place to call your own, a roof over your head. This is how we got rid of homeless in Finland. (in practice)

Really surprising. I thought e. Europe had plenty of housing, crappy housing but housing all the same.

Cool

And let me tell U ...it is freezing there long months in winter...

More coverage on the czech republic! Great reportage.

thats how u put it ... German prices but Czech wages .... which are wwwwwwaaaaay lower

Frankly, I was born and live in Prague. I managed to buy my own apartment. I just took a mortgage and paid off early (no help from parents). I live just with two sons and manage financially just fine. I do not smoke nor drink. I think it is unfair to point at the government that they are not doing enough. The main cause of homelessness in Prague and elsewhere is addiction - mainly alcohol. I know people that have elementary education, humble salary, renting and still make the ends meet. And then there are those with addiction that always struggle, unable to hold down the job but yet complaining that the government is not doing enough. I have seen so many people going down the slippery slope loosing everything - jobs, homes, family, friendships, mind, health, productivity, morals. Along this downward spiral everyone was pleading with them to get help and go to rehab. Rehabs are for free in the Czech republic as many times you want. The only condition is you need to want to. But instead they just using and dragging down everyone around including all these non profit organisation personnel to fund their destructive habit.

Gosh how sad.... Homeless tours....poverty porn... like something from the Victorian times, gawping at the unfortunate.... this is really quite nasty.

The lower the number of social supports available to assist people in keeping their jobs, homes, and health, the higher the rates of homelessness. It is within every government’s interest to help people from falling from middle class. It takes incredibly more resources to bring someone out of poverty than to assist them in maintaining their jobs, homes, and health. The latter takes a lot of effort from many sources, and takes time. Politicians like bandaid solutions because it makes them look good for the next election. Societies need to stop blaming the poor for where they are and why they got there. The view that, “they deserve what they get” is toxic. Poverty is not an active choice for everyone.

I’ve been living in Prague over a decade. Most homeless here have CHOSEN this lifestyle due to their addictions and inability to keep a job. They have al strong social programs, plenty of job opportunities and housing opportunities, it’s not the same problems as with homelessness in US or Western European countries. Yes, wages are low comparing to prices, but you can still live on them in a flat share and social housing etc.

The centre of prague is all bought up by foreigners and investors. Some live there enjoying the "esthetic old europe living" and most rent it out as airbnbs. For czech people the city centre is unlivable. As is the case in many other tourist cities.

Why wasn’t the homeless guy brought out to a restaurant for a meal????

I hope you got permission from the homeless people to film them. It is sad they cannot have a small space of their own. Even here in Australia we have homeless. :(

Day Centers are not the solution to homelessness. They're just a stop-gap measure. (Food, showers, laundry, etc.) Homelessness is usually more common in places with less job opportunities, and more Gentrification. Especially when we look at formerly Working Class neighborhoods that are now being price-gouged by Big Business people. Or when they prioritize luxury homes over apartments.

This is what capitalism looks like. The world over. It's grasp is so deep, the effect so profound and the alternative is so utterly incapable of giving any practical hope. This is the sort of dystopia I read in science fi books as a teenager!

Ow, the constant percussion is distracting and painful. I can't hear you. It's unfortunate. I would have liked to have watched this, but I can't make it out.

People from Ukraine are literally running from war. They have working habits, are grateful and most of them have/want/are looking for a job. Homeless people are different. They're homeless by they own doing. Alcohol, drugs, give up a normal life. Why have they never had a stable job? Mouth full of Ukraine people who lost everything from day to day. Houses, family members, jobs, pets, clothes... Now they're in different state, without nothing. And even without knowing local language. And I'm not saying that the government can't do more

Sigh, everywhere there are problems. I bet its no better on Mars or Jupiter.

"Homelessness is on the rise globally, and the Czech Republic has the highest rate in central and eastern Europe" - even experts have problem with this claim, because It seems factually wrong.

This is a legitimate job imo. They are adults with agency and it makes them money. These are rational actors not helpless children, they can make an informed decision about doing this job. I used to volunteer at a homeless shelter btw so I am not speaking from ignorance. Jobs are scarce for homeless people and this is a very smart idea. It shows homed people the reality of their world too. It's essentially "give me money and I'll share my life story with you". It's only voyeurism if YOU think you're being let in on something seedy or something that should be hidden. If you don't see it that way, it's just someone sharing their life story with you.