Warm nights for Prague's homeless: Here's how you can help this winter

For the ninth consecutive year, the Salvation Army's Nocleženka program offers homeless individuals nationwide a warm, clean bed, food, and access to essential services. People in Czechia can support the program with a CZK 100 donation.

The program’s primary goal is to provide a safe, dignified night's sleep for those in need. This simple act offers homeless individuals a chance to experience a safe and dignified night's sleep, which can be a crucial step toward regaining stability.

Jan František Krupa, head of the Salvation Army's social services, stresses the program's long-term goal is "to help people find their way back to normal life."

People can purchase a CZK 100 voucher via the Nocleženka website (available in English), which social workers allocate to those in need. Vouchers are distributed both in the field as paper vouchers and at hostels where people can directly access the services.

In exchange for a voucher, recipients get a bed, clean sheets, food, and the chance to shower and maintain personal hygiene. In the morning, they also have access to social worker services.

The Nocleženka program helps the Salvation Army cover costs not funded by the state. "The state assists with energy and wages through subsidies, but operational expenses, like renewing bedding or providing food, are not covered," Krupa explained.

Last year, the program received a strong response, with 30,000 vouchers purchased—similar to the previous year’s total. Three years ago, the program experienced a record high, funding 50,000 overnight stays.

The Salvation Army operates hostels in multiple cities, including Brno, Karlovy Vary, Ostrava, Krnov, Opava, Šumperk, Jirkov, and Havířov. When capacity is reached, they also offer a "free chair" option, allowing people to spend the night in a warm environment, even if just on a chair.

The majority of the Salvation Army's services are utilized in larger cities, with surveys indicating that 3,500 to 4,500 people live on the streets in Prague alone. In fact, the Czech capital has the highest proportion of homeless people sleeping outside or "in low-threshold hostels" out of the whole country, at 1.64 per 1,000 population.

A May 2024 report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) found that Czechia had the third-highest rate of homeless people per capita among OECD countries. 

Mayor of Prague 5, which has notoriously high rates of homeless people—particularly around the Anděl metro station—Radka Šimková told Czech media outlet Lidovky.cz this year: "The network of low-threshold addiction services in the capital has been insufficient for a long time."