In 2018, the Hungarian parliament passed a constitutional amendment prohibiting people from “living in the streets,” and effectively outlawed vagrancy nationwide. With many of Budapest’s homeless shelters already at or near capacity, the city’s police precincts have adopted an unofficial policy of ushering vagrant populations into neighboring districts and out of their jurisdiction. For those mired in housing insecurity, this has imposed a cycle of displacement and a constant shuffle between Budapest’s 23 districts.

The disheveled 8th District is likewise neglected. State-run hospitals are underfunded and in a perpetual state of disrepair. Some are unable to provide the essential diagnostic x-rays used to identify a broken finger. Facades peel, and bullet holes left unfilled since a 1958 uprising speckle the sides of many buildings.

Compounding general neglect by state-run services, the authoritarian Fidesz regime regularly cracks down on domestically-managed yet foreign-funded NGOs working to stitch holes in Hungary’s frayed social safety net. Many organizations have faced legal harassment by the government, as well as unfounded accusations of political meddling and foreign interference. Several NGOs, including the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, the community center Aurora Modularis, and a host of LGBTQ organizations have been forced to devote significant resources to confront state interventions. Some have been forced to shutter operations entirely.

For this short-term project, I documented the work of Food Not Bombs Budapest, an internationally-affiliated non-profit organization working to alleviate food insecurity in Budapest. In early January, 2019, they convened beneath a transit stop in the 8th District to discreetly distribute food and hot tea to homeless and food-insecure individuals.*