Greece is going to spend 800,000 euros on housing and feeding homeless people amid concern about the growing number of people living on the streets of Athens and Thessaloniki in wet and cold conditions.

Health Minister Andreas Loverdos announced on Monday that 400,000 euros of public money would be given to the City of Athens and 100,000 to Thessaloniki Municipality. Another 300,000 is to be given to the Church of Greece so it can keep up its soup kitchens. The Church says it feeds some 250,000 people, not just the homeless, every day.

The two municipalities are to spend the funds on renting hotels in the two cities that can house homeless people. Deputy Health Minister Markos Bolaris said one hotel in Athens had offered to provide rooms for 3 per night.

Bolaris added that a ministry team is working on a draft law to legally classify homeless people into several categories, including those sleeping on the streets and those who live in substandard properties.

Source: Kathimerini