Homeless Day

The National Homeless Day

Homeless International Flag

The Homeless International Day

Homeless International Day
20th January

Homeless Day is 20th January!

The official symbol of the Homeless Day is the Homeless Flag
also called the Solidarity Flag
, Morality Flag

January 20: Make a difference on Homeless Day

January 20 is not just Homeless Day, it’s also Rose Movement Day. Bring a rose, warm clothes, and head to the city’s largest square. There, you have the chance to transform words into life-changing actions.

In our cozy warmth, there are those who freeze. Come and show that no one is forgotten. Meet up with kind-hearted souls to share warmth and care. Together, we can make the world a bit brighter for everyone.

Why This Day is Important

Homeless Day is not just a symbolic occasion; it’s a call to action. It provides an opportunity to spotlight the millions of people worldwide who are homeless.

These individuals have dreams and potential and deserve a second chance.

How to Get Involved: So what can we do?

Start by getting involved personally.

Where:

Your city’s largest square—we mention only a few cities here, but in every city, you can go to the largest square to meet the homeless. Here is a list of some examples:

Stockholm: Sergels Square
Malmö: Stortorget
Göteborg: Brunnsparken
Oslo: Eidsvolls Square
Berlin: Brandenburg Gate
Tehran: Azadi Square
London: Trafalgar Square
Time: 4:00 PM
👉 Show more

A day to focus on the homeless

On the International Homeless Day, we want the world to consider the situation of homeless people, not just in their own city, but all around the world. A world where everyone has a roof over their head is a better world for everyone, and there is enough money in the world to make this possible.

Perhaps you have an idea of how you, your business or your organization can contribute to help the homeless? Please contact us and we’ll have a meeting. We are always open to new ideas, solutions and cooperations and we would love your help in any way you can contribute.

See you on Homeless International Day at January 20!
"The society knows about the World Cancer Day, World Health Day, the International Forgiveness Day at 23 July, and the Nelson Mandela Day, but do people know a day about homelessness?"
Kavian Ferdowsi

Why a Homeless Day?

We believe that in a global perspective, homeless people and their situation is not recognized enough.

A lot of human rights have their own dedicated awards and special days, but up until a few years ago none of these had focused directly on the ever increasing number of homeless people around the world.

The Homeless Day and the National Homeless Day is the same thing.

https://nationalhomelessday.com

How many people are homeless?

According to Yale University, it is estimated that there are around 150 million homeless people around the world. That’s two percent of the world’s population. In Sweden, the estimated number of homeless people is 33,000, which serves as proof that homelessness is a problem for wealthy nations as well as poor.

Homelessness is largely an urban problem. For the last hundred years, billions of people have moved from the countryside into the world’s cities to look for work and shelter, and some people argue that homelessness is a problem that can never be solved, since the cities can never build enough housing for everyone.

Homelessness can have many causes

A lot of people seem to think that being homeless is the result of a series of bad choices. He or she chose to start using drugs, he or she didn’t want to work etc. In reality, this is rarely the case. Most of the homeless people you see in the streets have once lead normal lives. They’ve had ordinary jobs, a family, friends and a bright future.

But things happen. Someone gets sick, someone experiences the loss of someone close to them. For various reasons, people break down from time to time, and can’t cope with day-to-day life. Most of the time, they get help from loved ones, or from society. But some people don’t, or the help they’re given is not enough. Being in a downward spiral is tough, especially when you are weak and vulnerable. Some people end up in the street, where they are looked upon by the rest of us as somebody who has him- or herself to blame. This is a terrible situation, and a lot of people look to drugs and alcohol to ease the pain, which of course makes the situation even worse.

20th January

To raise awareness of  homelessness globally, the non-profit organization Hemlösa.se have declared January 20 to be the Homeless International Day. They have also initiated the Homeless Hero prize, which is given every year to persons and organizations who have worked to improve the situation of homeless people in one way or another.

The Homeless Day and the Homeless Hero prize are meant to raise awareness and to acknowledge the situation of homeless people, and also to encourage those who help the homeless to keep up their important work.

The celebration of the Homeless Day started in 2013 by Hemlösa.se. The award ceremony takes place every year on the 20th of January. For example at the 2017 ceremony, no less than three people and one organization were awarded the Homeless Hero prize.

Since the beginning in 2013 all the way to today, many persons and organizations have received the Santa Claus prize.

The Homeless Flag, also called the Solidarity Flag or the Equality Flag, is the official symbol for the Homeless Day. Read more about the Solidarity Flag on the Hemlösa.se website. The Homeless International Flag on Wikimedia.

Hjaltar.se
Santa Claus Prizes

Hjältar / Santa Claus Prizes is a group term for Homeless Heroes, Vegetarian Heroes, Environment Heroes, Animal Heroes and Peace Heroes.

Homeless Heroes 2022

Amaira Arora

Homeless Heroes 2021

Asees (Lucia) Kaur

Bostad.shop

Eddie Jaku

Homeless Heroes 2020

Danny & Claudia Hamzo with family

Jan Mado

Jenny Mado

Jonas Sjöstedt

Kamil Mardo

Nathalie & Immanuel

Homeless Heroes 2019

No heroes were elected for 2019

Homeless Heroes 2018

Annelie Andersson

FEED

Lauren Bush Lauren

Mahmoud Aoudi

Matthias Vidh

Nils Reuterdahl

Rolf Lundqvist

Sven Magnusson

Vegetarian Heroes 2018 - 2019

Animal Abuse filmmakers
The price for the Vegetarian Heroes goes this year, 2018-2019, to all the cameramen who has filmed, acknowledged and revealed animal abuse through video and film. Examples:

Homeless Heroes 2017

Arthur D Little

Christoffer Samuelsson

Marek Kotański

Maria Polias

Olle Nyberg

Petter Kilefors

Richard Seifert

Yasmin Tilles

Homeless Heroes 2016

Alexander R. Forsgren

DreamCenter USA

Fredrik Bergenstråhle

Niklas Adalberth

The award ceremony took place at Hemlösa.se's Café Tegelbacken in Stockholm the 20th of January 2017

Vegetarian Hero 2016 - 2017

Gary Yourofsky

Yourofsky is a former animals activist, speaker and advocate for veganism, that now resides in the United States. Yoroufsky was awaded this year Vegetarian Hero prize because of his committment and zeal to promote a vegetarian living.

Read more about him on Wikipedia or on his website adaptt.org

Animals Hero 2016 - 2017

Mammad Bakhtar

Mammad Bakhtar is from Marivan in Iran. Bakhtar tried to save a dog from a fence, but during the resucing, when the dog was about to die, he lost his feet when he stepped on a mine. At the awards ceremony, he was still at a hospital in Iran.
This deed made him an Animal Hero, and we shall honor him and give him this years Animals Hero price for 2017. He could not participate in the award ceremony since he still was in the hospital.

Kavian Ferdowsi, founder of the Homeless Day, says: ”Thank you Bakhtar. You are this year Animals Hero in the World. You became historical!”Read more about Bhaktars deed on Al Jazeeras website aljazeera.com

Homeless Hero 2012

Jesus was decided to be the first winner of the Homeless Day awards.
Read more about Jesus here

Homeless Heroes 2015

Bengt och Maj Axberg

Elisabeth Gill

Homeless Heroes 2014

Anna Stenberg

Carl-Erik Sahlberg

Faheem Moini

Iran Azari

Kailash Satyarthi

Tora Alfredsson

Homeless Heroes 2013

H.K.H. Kronprinsessan Victoria

Inga Pagréus

Awards

During 2017, Hemlösa.se established
Santa Claus Prize which are awards where Homless Hero is just one of them. Hemlösa.se first gave the prizes during the 2013 Homeless Day.

Heroes

Homeless Heroes
Vegetarian Heroes
Environment Heroes
Animal Heroes
Peace Heroes

About Kavian Ferdowsi and Hemlösa.se

Kavian Ferdowsi came to Sweden from Iran in 2008. The first three years he lived as a homeless person in Stockholm. As hard as this was, Kavian still found strength in the community of homeless people, and when he managed to get his life back on the right track, he decided that he wanted to dedicate his life to make the lives of homeless people better.

Kavian founded Hemlösa.se, a voluntary organization that works every day of the year to help the homeless. Every morning at 6:30, our volunteers serve breakfast in a street in central Stockholm, donated by nearby restaurants and cafés. We try to make sleeping arrangements for as many people as possible, and hand out clothes, sleeping bags, medicine, toothbrushes etc.

A way back into society

We believe that homelessness is not the end of the road. There is a way back to a normal life for everyone. But it takes strength, and to gain strength you need help. Somebody who show you that they care, who helps you get food and clothes and, perhaps most of all, tell you that things can get better.

Hemlösa.se is an organization who helps homeless people in the streets of Stockholm. But we want to do more than just provide help. We dream of a world in which homelessness doesn’t exist, and where anyone who loses the roof over their heads gets help right away. We believe there should be a department and a minister of homelessness in every country. Because, while helping on a basic scale can do a lot of good, the problem of homelessness can never be sold without political actions.

Raising money without intermediaries

Hemlösa.se is a non-profit organization. That means the organization is dependent on people who dedicate parts of their lives to work for free, and on the money donated to us. There are no intermediaries, which means that all the money that is donated can be used directly to provide help to the homeless, unlike other charity organizations where parts of the donations always goes to the organization itself. This makes Hemlösa.se a very efficient help organization, but also vulnerable, since we are heavily dependent on the public and their will to help.