Nejdřív střecha

Project

Even the very first days of life on the street may cause a devastating personality impact. The project Roof First gives a helping hand to those people who have lost their housing. It provides them with free housing in dormitories and shelters for up to two months. New facilities and support of professionals aim to enable them to breathe again and assist in finding of housing, getting missing documents, social benefits and help in a search for job.

Roof First is designed for those who:

immediately found themselves on the street or are motivated to get off the street,
found themselves in a stressful situation in which prolonged life on the street can be harmful for them,
reside in a facility with the support of a social worker, but their stay there is seriously threatened.

Any newcomer is given one month of free of charge housing. When necessary, the second month of free of charge housing can be offered – it depends on the assessment of a social worker. Willingness to cooperate on the part of the client is prerequisite. Social worker meets a client as needed, at least once a week. There is a chance of reintegration into the project for those clients who did not initially take an advantage of the accommodation.

All the funds collected go for client's accommodation. Monthly updates are provided with the status of incoming and outgoing funds and the number of clients supported.

Housing is provided by social services in Prague, Brno, Ostrava, České Budějovice, Havířov, Horní Jiřetín, Jablonec nad Nisou, Klášterec nad Ohří, Liberec, Litoměřice, Mladá Boleslav, Opava, Plzeň, Roudnice nad Labem and Vsetín. Their contact list can be found under the Housing bookmark.

Who is behind

Patron and initiator of the project is Vojtěch Sedláček.

Administration of the project is provided by The Committee of Good Will - Olga Havel Foundation.

Until 31 December 2017, the project was implemented by the NADĚJE foundation.

"A person on the street without resources is always somehow wounded, from the social point of view even seriously wounded. It is surprising how often a relatively small help can stop people from failing into permanent homelessness, and help them stand on their own feet."

Vojtěch Sedláček

I would like to help

PAYMENTS FROM ABROAD:
Partner Name: Výbor dobré vůle – Nadace Olgy Havlové, projekt Nejdřív střecha
IBAN: CZ31 0300 0000 0004 7843 7383, BIC (SWIFT): CEKOCZPP, Variable Symbol (Reference Number): 201405
BANK: CSOB, a.s. (Ceskoslovenska obchodni banka, a.s.), BANK ADRESS: Radlická 333/150, 150 57 Praha 5

Numbers and stories

Supported individuals

During the 122 months of the project existence, donors have given a chance to 3017 people without a place to stay.

1936 male

618 female

463 families

TIP: To view a story, click on the white characters

Martina, 44 years- she and her adult son came to the day centre after their two-day stay on the street. They lost their housing because of domestic violence. They escaped from Martina's mother´s violent boyfriend. The woman was discharged from the public employment office. Through the Roof First project, she was accommodated in a shelter. She found a job, moved out of a shelter and started to live with her son again. Her son took part in the project too.

Number of nights: 33

Vojtěch, 58 years – he came to ask for help after his two-week stay on the street. Till then, he had lived in a rented apartment payed for from his teacher´s salary. After his teaching position was cut off because of staff cutbacks, he had worked as a storeman. Then he lost even that job and became homeless. Owing to the Roof First project he could use the accommodation in a dormitory. Together with social workers, he managed to renew his expired identity card and he registered himself with the public employment office. With the unemployment benefits he was able to pay accommodation in a shelter, where they helped him to find a new job.

Number of nights: 30

Lukáš, 20 years - he was on the street for a few days. He had an opportunity to get a job with accommodation, however, he did not have money to pay a rent. Due to the Roof First project, he was accommodated in a dormitory till he got his job. In a term given, he started to work and live in his employer’s accommodation.

Number of nights: 11

Ivan, 28 years - he had been robbed on his way to Germany, where he was promised a job. As he had not experienced such a situation before, he was ashamed of it and he didn´t carry on to Germany anymore. While in a shelter, he started to co-operate with the Job Club. He found occasional work and, later on, a permanent job out of Prague.

Number of nights: 28

Petr, 36 years - he had worked for 11 years as a garbage collector. After divorce, he found himself on the street, where he had spent two months. He lost his identity card and then he even lost his job. During his stay in a dormitory, he managed to regain a new identity card and he started to search for a job. First, he found an occasional work, later a permanent job. He stopped using social services and left to live in a commercial accommodation.

Number of nights: 30

Roman, 48 years - he came to ask for help to NADĚJE. He and his girlfriend had been living in a rooming house, but both have lost their jobs and found themselves on the street. Roman joined the Roof First project and was accommodated in a dormitory. He was helped by a social worker and a curator, who helped him to expedite a registration with public employment office. He was provided various contacts for the recruitment agencies and job offers. He was assisted in exchange of an expired identity card and in getting other documents that necessary to get a job. After two weeks, Roman has found a part-time job in a warehouse, then a permanent job was offered to him by a manager. Now, Roman lives in a shelter, he has a job and solves the debt problems from his past.

Number of nights: 30

Finance

Donors have already helped with the amount of CZK 8 611 942.

The remaining funds will help 22 people without housing.

Paid for Housing: CZK 8 588 998

Still available: CZK 22 944

Even CZK 1 000 may help solve situation of a person who has just found him/herself on the street.
Even three weeks of the roof over a head may help resolve the acute crisis situation of a person who just lost home.
More than a half of people without housing who participated in the project were able to improve their situation.

Donors

WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK TO ALL DONORS ON BEHALF OF ROOF FIRST

DONATIONS IN 2024, updated on October 1

DONATION OVER CZK 100.001

Část výtěžku z 6. ročníku Běhu dobré vůle
Sadílek Petr
Sedláček Vojtěch

Donation CZK 50.001 - 100.000

MEDIAN, s.r.o.

Donation CZK 20.001 - 50.000

Sheils Clare
Sukhomlina Kristina
Vinné sklepy Kutná Hora

Donation CZK 10.001 - 20.000

Cachová Tereza
Plocková Vlasta
Ševčík René

Donation CZK 5.001 - 10.000

Bukovská Johana
ELDACO a.s.
Kazda Alexandr
Leschingerová Veronika
Nováčková Michala
Rýparovi
Turková Karolína
Záruba Martin

Donation CZK 2.001 - 5.000

Babický Jan
Balous Václav
Bezchlebová Eva
Bubeníček Jiří
Doubková Darina
Fišer Ladislav
Churáčková Zdeňka
Jandová Kateřina
Kadlecová Lucie
Kislinger Jan
Korbel Jan
Kortyšová Michaela
Krátká Marie
Krebsovi
Löblová Blanka
Niederlová Veronika
Panich Vladimir
Pinc Zdeněk
Rada Vít
Soukalová Jana
Stříhavková Šárka
Šebek Josef
Šindelková Edita
Trefný Jan
Ulverová Tereza
Václavů Kateřina
Vojáček Ivo
Vystrčilová Darina
Zárubová Nemesová Katarina

Donation CZK 1.001 - 2.000

Beránková Pavla
Franková Lucie
Chvátal Tomáš
Komárková Mlada
Kovárníková Kateřina
Mrkvičková Olga
Mudrová Dana
Rídlová Michaela
Sekera Jiří
Šemík Karel
Šimáček Dalibor
Žárský Jakub

Donation CZK 1.000

Honsová Kateřina
Litschmann Aleš
Lukeš Petr
Mortaigne Alistaire
Mžourková Jana
Navarová Viktorie
Palek Karel
Ptáčková Kateřina
Smrčková Vlaďka
Sokolová Veronika
Soperová Alžběta
Spolek klubu přátel školy Základní školy KolínV., Mnichovická 62
Stevens Jack
Šimková Kristina
Švec Vladimír
Třešňák Jiří
Vejmelková Jana

DONATIONS IN 2023 (ARCHIVE)

DONATIONS IN 2022 (ARCHIVE)

DONATIONS IN 2021 (ARCHIVE)

DONATIONS IN 2020 (ARCHIVE)

DONATIONS IN 2019 (ARCHIVE)

DONATIONS IN 2018 (ARCHIVE)

DONATIONS IN 2014-2017 (ARCHIVE)

FAQ

Whom do you help?

People who just found themselves on the street without a support and without a job and need to quickly bounce from the bottom, people who decided to fight the loss of home and are motivated to start again, or people in acute situation in which their further stay on the street may endanger their lives.

Specifics of support

The contributions provide for the first two months of accommodation for people without a place to stay. Then, they have a chance to assess their situation and begin to solve it. Accommodation is available in dormitories (overnight stays only) or shelters (offering all-day stay). Gradually, the intention is to focus on providing full-day living in shelters or homes with the support of a social worker. Addition of intensive training of and social and psychological counseling is anticipated as a part of the project.

Reasoning behind

Even the immediate days of life spent on the street have a devastating personality impact. Therefore, it is important that the time of life on the street gets as short as possible. Roof First offers a helping hand to people who lost the roof over their head and enables them to gain time to assess their situation, regain all the necessary documents, find work etc. It depends on each individual whether he/she takes an offer of help.

Specific benefits

Stability, time, space, and, especially, a chance to return to normal life before completely sinking into life on the streets.

Amount that may help one client

The clients receive an overnight stay in a dormitory or an all-day accommodation in a shelter. It depends on their current situation and the availability of vacancies. In case the client does not have health limitations, or does not work at night, dormitory services are used as a preference. Price per night in a dormitory is about four times cheaper than the price of living in a shelter. Approximately 85% of the clients sleep in dormitories. The amount of CZK 1 000, which can help one client, is based on the calculation of the amount granted for an average night for successful clients. Clients whom the project helped the most needed to solve their situation within an average of 22 days.