B. Housing 1. Types of accommodation Indicators: Types of Accommodation 1. Number of reception centres: 33 (reportedly)986 2. Total number of places in the reception system: Not available987 3. Total number of places in private accommodation: 0988 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 Article 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 applicants with adequate living conditions.989 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. 990 Since then, the number of reception places has increased mainly through camps and the former ESTIA accommodation programme initially implemented by UNHCR, until the latter was terminated at the end of 2022. Despite this increase, destitution and homelessness remain a risk, which has continued affecting asylum applicants and refugees,991 particularly following the Greek government’s decision to link eligibility for the cash-based support provided in the context of material reception with residence in Greece’s reception system, coupled 986 987 988 989 990 991 Includes 24 temporary accommodation Centers which as per the MoMA’s website (relevant section here) were operational on the mainland as of 24 January 2025 (last access), and 9 RICs/CCACs, 3 of which on the mainland and 6 on the islands, which as per the MoMA’s website (relevant section here) were operational as of the same date. Reception capacity is only provided for island facilities, where, as of 31 December 2024, the number of reception places reportedly stood at 14,359 (14,156 in CCACs and 203 in facilities operating under the National Centre for Social Solidarity dedicated to the accommodation of UAM). National Coordination Center for Border Control, Immigration and Asylum (N.C.C.B.C.I.A.), National Situational Picture Regarding The Islands At Eastern Aegean Sea (31/12/2024), available here. Concerns the previous ESTIA accommodation programme that was terminated in December 2022. 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, pp. 7-8. See, inter alia, Katimerini, Thousands of refugees back out in the cold, 20 January 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3mWTzm3; The Guardian, Destitution is almost inevitable: Afghan refugees in Greece left homeless by failed system, 30 November 2022, 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; Joint Announcement of 74 civils society organisations, Refugees in Greece: Risk of Homelessness and Destitution for Thousands during Winter, 22 December 2020, available at: https://bit.ly/3nIBofT. 188