Hi,
I've been really enjoying the blog! Just thought I'd try to reply to dougspangler, as I'm currently researching BG social&amp;labour policy.
Bulgaria was, indeed, a communist country until 1989 and had no [official] homelessness or unemployment. After the fall of the regime, some elements of this system have remained, but in a very crumbled form. The social security system has undergone numerous reforms, and is currently trying to emulate the EU experience (activation policies, flexicurity, etc.) - but is largely still based on "passive" social security and social assistance. This is what people expect from the state, as well - however,, it is a problem because the country is not rich enough to afford decent social security payments &amp; pensions, and so these payments are currently way below even basic subsistence level. The state's role and power has been diminishing - however, there aren't many charities which could take up its role, as the majority of the population is still working poor. In 1997 73% of the population was below the basic subsistence level and only some 5-6% were above the "normal subsistence" level; in 2008 things were far better at 22% below subsistence level, but still only 15% were above the more comprehensive subsistence level (which in BG is estimated at about 250$/month/person). So, despite the vast progress made in a period of 15 years, the main issue is still the vast number of working poor - and you can imagine that in this situation there is not much that can be done for the homeless and the really poor. As one Bulgarian report from 1994 said, "the money in post-communist states is redistributed from the poor to the very poor" - and not from the rich to the poor.
Hope that casts some more light on the background!