35 organizations helping people with disabilities won more than HUF 16 billion in a tender, announced the State Secretary of the Ministry of the Interior responsible for care policy at a press conference in Budapest on Friday.

Attila Fülöp XV of the National Association of Social Organizations and Foundations Serving the Intellectually Disabled (ÉTA) announced at the district headquarters,

25 civil, nine church and one local government maintenance companies won between HUF 100 million and HUF 1.2 billion, from which they can buy new real estate, renovate their existing buildings, expand their services - for example, they can introduce physiotherapy for the beneficiaries - or buy a minibus.

The state secretary spoke about how in the past, if someone was forced to live in an institution, they could only be placed in a large state institution, but the government decided to abolish this system and provide the infrastructure necessary for independent living. This is subsidized housing, which provides family-like conditions to the beneficiaries and helps social integration and participation in community life, added Attila Fülöp, indicating that more than three thousand people have already moved out of large institutions.

Ágnes Papp, president of ÉTA, said that the association, founded in 1997, helps people with intellectual disabilities and multiple disabilities, their family members, and the professionals who support them.

Currently, they have 66 member organizations across the country, which are in contact with 9-10 thousand people, and eight of their member organizations successfully started the competition, he added.

László Jakubinyi, the president of the Symbiozis Foundation in Miskolc, emphasized that the current tender is of historic importance, because such a large amount of resources have never been available in this area.

The foundation provides services to more than 500 families, sixty people are provided with subsidized housing in five housing units, but more than a hundred are waiting for a place, and so far the waiting time was 20 years, but thanks to the tender, this can now change, the president emphasized.

László Jakubinyi said that they can provide rooms for 12 people in a large family house, and 2-4 people in smaller apartments, they will also buy a minibus, and money will also be provided for energy modernization of their existing institutions.

Attiláné Suller, the president of Debrecen's Fény Felé Foundation, said that thanks to the tender, they will double their achievements in the past 30 years.

The foundation also buys minibuses, buys houses in which subsidized housing can be realized, and also creates a new day care center for the people living in the family and modernizes their existing buildings, explained the president.

Source: Magyar Hírlap