B. Housing 1. Types of accommodation Indicators: Types of Accommodation 1. Number of reception centres: 24 2. Total number of places in the reception system: 49,790 (reportedly)727 3. Total number of places in private accommodation: 10,363728 4. Type of accommodation most frequently used in a regular procedure: Reception centre Hotel or hostel Emergency shelter Private housing Other 5. Type of accommodation most frequently used in an accelerated procedure: Reception centre Hotel or hostel Emergency shelter Private housing Other Article 28 L. 4825/2021 (replacing para. 4 art. 8 L 4375/2016) provides that the Regional Services of the RIS are the: ❖ Reception and Identification Centres (RICs) ❖ Controlled Temporary Accommodation Centres and ❖ Closed Controlled Access Centres (CCACs), which are structured and have similar responsibilities to the RICs and which include distinct spaces for the operation of Temporary Accommodation facilities and Pre-Removal Centres. The same article also provides for the operation of distinct spaces, within the perimeter of the aforementioned types of accommodation, that should fulfil specifications appropriate for the accommodation of third country nationals or stateless persons belonging to the vulnerable groups prescribed by law. Overall, the Greek reception system has been long criticised as inadequate, not least in the M.S.S. v. Belgium and Greece ruling of the ECtHR. Subsequent jurisprudence of the ECtHR has also found violations of Article 3 ECHR due to the failure of national authorities to provide asylum seekers with adequate living conditions.729 From mid-2015, when Greece was facing large-scale arrivals of refugees, those shortcomings became increasingly apparent. The imposition of border restrictions and the subsequent closure of the Western Balkan route in March 2016 resulted in trapping about 50,000 third-country nationals in Greece. This created inter alia an unprecedented burden on the Greek reception system.730 Since then, the number of reception places has increased mainly through camps and the UNHCR accommodation scheme, until the latter was terminated at the end of 2022. Despite this increase, destitution and homelessness remain a risk, which has continued affecting asylum seekers and refugees, 731 particularly following the Greek government’s decision to link eligibility for the cash-based support provided in the context of material 727 728 729 730 731 Includes the nominal capacity of island facilities and the ESTIA scheme, as reported by the MoMA and the National Coordination Centre for Border Control, Immigration and Asylum, and data on the 24 mainland camps as per IOM’s last update on 1 March 2022. For ESTIA data is updated up to November 2022 and for RICs/CCACs up to end December 2022. Does not include data on Evros RIC. The number of the ESTIA apartments up to November 2022, as reported by the MoMA. ECtHR, F.H. v. Greece, Application No 78456/11, Judgment of 31 July 2014; Al.K. v. Greece, Application No 63542/11, Judgment of 11 March 2015; Amadou v. Greece, Application No 37991/11, Judgment of 4 February 2016; S.G. v. Greece, Application No 46558/12, Judgment of 18 May 2017, A.D. v Greece, Application no. 55363/19, Judgement of 4 April 2023. See also AIRE Centre and ECRE, With Greece: Recommendations for refugee protection, July 2016, available at: https://bit.ly/3WRDBXE, 7-8. Amongst others see M. Kakaounaki, ‘Thousands of refugees back out in the cold’, Kathimerini, 20 January 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3mWTzm3; K. Fallon, ‘Destitution is almost inevitable’: Afghan refugees in Greece left homeless by failed system’, 30 November 2022, The Guardian, available at: https://bit.ly/3HbNicW; GCR, Diotima Centre & IRC, Homeless & Hopeless: An assessment of the housing situation of asylum applicants and beneficiaries of international protection in Greece, January 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3uwZ2zC; Refugees in Greece: Risk of Homelessness and Destitution for Thousands during Winter, Joint Announcement of 74 civils society organisations, 22 December 2020, available at: https://bit.ly/3nIBofT. 158