Financial Times
February 17, 2012
Huddled in a sleeping bag under a porch, his few possessions stashed in a black bin-liner, Rovertos awaits a visit from a lawyer who manages the graffiti-covered building in central Athens where he took refuge six weeks ago.
“He said maybe I could stay if the owners didn’t object. It might keep burglars away,” says the 38-year-old unemployed construction worker, who started sleeping rough after he was evicted last year for unpaid rent.
Rovertos is one of an estimated 20,000 Greeks in the capital made homeless over the past year.
As Greece’s crisis deepens, the social fabric is showing signs of unravelling, raising questions about how much more austerity the country can take. Job losses, along with pension cuts, have created a new class of urban poor.
The homeless are increasingly visible, squatting in parks and the entrances of rundown apartment blocks, or lining up at dozens of soup kitchens operated by local and international charities.
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