BUDAPEST – Hungary's right-wing government and the liberal leadership of the country's capital city are absorbed in a conflict over a hospital for the homeless that may soon be forced to close its doors.
The hospital provides medical care, social services and shelter to more than 1,000 people annually. Equipped with nearly 75 beds, state of the art facilities, a temporary hostel and outpatient treatment, it is the only such hospital in Budapest, which suffers from a high rate of homelessness.
Yet the Hungarian government has ordered the Budapest Methodological Center of Social Policy, which runs the city-funded hospital, to vacate the state-owned building the facility occupies, creating uncertainty for the hundreds of people receiving