Sofia Municipality and Bulgarian Academy of Sciences to make a registry of the homeless

The Sofia Municipality and the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences will create a register of homeless people in Sofia. The initiative comes from the Institute of Population and Human Research of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, which is participating in a European project to compile statistics on homeless people in Europe.

"We will try to make a snapshot map of the homeless on the territory of Sofia," Deputy Mayor Nadezhda Bacheva told BNR. Before the census, various institutions and places where they usually gather will be mapped. The census itself will take place within a week.

Another goal of the project is to find out why people stay on the streets. "There are people who live permanently outside, people with mental problems, people with alcohol or drug addiction. This is what we will try to track - what their problems are and where they come from," said Nadezhda Bacheva. She also announced that 11 centers for people with dementia and mental retardation are planned.