Budapest housing shortage, which had been deepening from the end of the nineteenth century onwards, brought on severe tensions causing a series of housing movements by the early twentieth century. The present study examines the story of the residents of Hétház, primarily by reconstructing their strategies to improve their housing situation. The conflict broke out in the tenement following a rent increase in May 1910, and several violent episodes ensued. The situation remained unresolved for months until significant police force was deployed and all tenants were evicted during a raid. The Hétház case directed the limelight on the city’s housing crisis and escalated into social issues and concerns for public safety. In addition to tracing the changing perceptions of the residents and the factors that turned the initial sympathy to criminalization, the study analyses news coverage in daily newspapers and police reports to reveal how the residential strike assumed political overtones over time.

Although civil societies, specifically the Association for Homeless Shelters, were the primary initiators of the establishment of the first shelters in Budapest, the capital’s municipal administration also participated in providing aid to the homeless. The present study examines the institutional framework of helping the homeless from the angle of the agents participating in the provision of aid, with special attention to its transformation in the decades following World War I. In addition, it provides an insight into the personal background of the individuals involved in the upkeep and operation of shelters. In addition, the analysis of the shelters’ accounts of funds received reveals some unique characteristics of private and municipal funding. The examination of the charitable organisations neces- sarily extends to the operation as seen from the angle of the shelters’ users, the accessibility of the shelters, and the eligibility criteria for the users. In the dec- ades directly after World War I, the institutional framework underwent a funda- mental transformation. While at the turn of the nineteenth century, the above mentioned association and the municipal authorities coordinated their efforts on the basis of a general consensus, after the war this status quo was abandoned entirely. The Association for Homeless Shelters was disbanded and the running and maintenance of shelters were transferred into the remit of the municipal administration. At the same time, new organisations sprang up establishing shel- ters across the city: their activities can be interpreted as a response to the short- comings of the municipal aid available for the city’s homeless.

Nincs absztrakt.