The Symbiosis Foundation in Miskolc is expanding and developing its housing services, for which it received HUF 572 million in European Union funds. The NGO bought a family house, where they will create living units for twelve people, while nine people will find a new home in apartment buildings.
The Symbiosis Foundation currently provides family-style housing for sixty people in Miskolc, in five different locations. Fourteen people live in the largest house, seven in the smallest. Each property is different, there are places where people with disabilities with higher needs live, and in other places partially independent people live.
The common destinies are that these are disabled people whose families can no longer care for them at home,
for example, because the parents are elderly, and in many cases the people involved have no parents and/or come from a child protection institution. Currently, the waiting list for the Symbiosis Foundation's housing options is one hundred people, which may mean that
you have to wait up to 20 years for admission.
"This problem is remedied by the tender, in the framework of which we are creating twenty-one new places. Thanks to the support, all those who have been waiting for many years now have the opportunity to get housing," said Beatrix Almási, the communications representative of the NGO. Among the new residential units will be a large family house for 12 people, the operation of which will be similar to the existing ones (with round-the-clock supervision), while for the remaining nine people, completely new inclusive apartments of the highest level will be created in accordance with European professional expectations. In practice, the latter means that the foundation buys three apartment buildings, where 2-3 or 4 people are accommodated. The new residents will be young people with disabilities (even couples) who need little help to live completely independently.
"We believe that with our program we contribute significantly to the development of Miskolc's social care system and to increasing the social security of people with disabilities living in the city," said László Jakubinyi, chairman of the board of trustees of the Szimbiozis Foundation.
He added:
three existing housing units will also be renovated within the framework of the program.
Primarily with energy development and the expansion of Baráthegy day care, they can accommodate an extra twenty people. Particular attention is paid to supporting the employment opportunities of young people with disabilities, various professional program elements are implemented within the framework of the project, which aim at the preparation of the movers and their families, the training of new employees, as well as getting to know future neighbors and joint programs.
The fact that the Symbiozis Foundation recently won the Miskolc Campus Forum Green and Smart award in the social sustainability category proves how much the work of the NGO means to the city.
The recognition was received by Veronika Czene, a young lady with Down syndrome who lives in the organization's residential home, accompanied by László Jakubinyi, chairman of the board of trustees of the Szimbiozis Foundation, at the University of Miskolc.
Photo: Symbiosis Foundation
"Dedicated to social change" - this is how they described the wide-ranging activities carried out for the Symbiosis Foundation. The awardees explained: the focus of the organization's support is aimed at improving the quality of life of people with disabilities, but at the same time, all their programs are interwoven with the promotion of a positive attitude and outlook in the social environment. Their strength is not only the operation of integrated workplaces, the organization and conduct of camps and events, but they also make determined efforts to ensure equal access to public services for those they help, as well as open labor market placement. They also support people with disabilities to appear as equal citizens, good neighbors, and valuable colleagues in everyday life.
The name of the more than 20-year-old Symbiosis Foundation also refers to the forms of life that represent unique values in themselves, but in their manifestation create harmonious interdependence. It symbolizes the necessary relationship between the individual and the community, traditions and technical achievements, the artificial and the natural environment, where only the maintenance of a state of equilibrium can mean "viable existence", stated the justification.
Author: Tamás Császár
Front page image: In the foundation's residential homes, everyone can decorate their room according to their own taste / Photo: Symbiosis Foundation
