City Hall opens hostel for
 homeless drug addicts

The Athens municipality on Wednesday opened the capital’s first halfway house for homeless people who are addicted to drugs or other substances.

The initiative, which City Hall has organized in cooperation with several nongovernmental organizations including the Therapy Center for Dependent Individuals (KETHEA) and Doctors of the World, aims to provide dozens of homeless addicts with housing, medical care, psychological and legal support while also helping them rejoin society once rehabilitated.

The hostel can accommodate up to 70 people for a maximum of six months each and will eventually be expanded to host up to 140.

Visiting the hostel on Wednesday, Athens Mayor Kostas Bakoyannis said its goal was to provide residents with “protection, medical care, support and the decent living conditions that they need.”