Deputy mayor Gábor Bagdy said the city has renovated an alternative hostel for the homeless women and that 20 people have moved from the József nádor tér to the new institution.

Gábor Iványi, president of the Protection Charity Association (OKE) which runs the shelter, said an agreement signed in 2000 stipulates that if the city wants to utilise the shelter for other purposes it must provide a replacement property.

The accommodation now offered on Gyáli út in the Ninth District violates that agreement, he said, as the OKE has no legal relationship to the property and the city did not consult the organisation.

Activists from Ligetvédõk and the City Belongs to Everyone, as well as Socialist politicians Ágnes Kunhalmi, Lajos Korózs, Ildikó Lendvai and Pál Steiner, appeared at the shelter yesterday to show support for Iványi.

Source: Hungary Around the Clock

This news item is one of many published daily by HATC, a premier subscription news service which distributes English-language info about Hungary via email or fax. For a free trial of HATC visit www.hatc.hu and click on 'Free Trial Subscription’.