On 22 May, the Ombudsman was on business in Maribor, where he met with 18 people who believed that he could help them in exercising their rights, spoke with the Mayor of Maribor, Saša Arsenovič, and addressed the gathering at the 20th anniversary of the Tezno Home for the Elderly , where new rooms for temporary accommodation have been opened and part of the rooms for people with dementia and other residents thoroughly renovated.

In his address to the gathering, the Ombudsman stressed that the entire mandate is aimed at those in charge adopting effective systemic solutions to improve social care, because in his opinion, it is even more important that a person has the opportunity to independently and autonomously decide how and where they will spend their old age, and that the quality of care must be good, which means at least that there are enough people available whose work is properly valued. "All these and more are important factors for a person to really feel like a human being in their home environment. This is also why I try to be a strong voice for all those whose voices are too weak and are often not heard by the decision-makers," he said, congratulating the residents and employees on what they have achieved.

They talked with Mayor Saša Arsenovič about, among other things, the municipality's efforts to help the state and provide a legal basis for the construction of lifts in multi-story private buildings, with which they wish to improve the mobility of the elderly and other physically challenged people and their care at home. At the same time, the Ombudsman again called on the state to listen to the proposition. "The government could set up such mechanisms, following the example of energy renovation financing. This would certainly raise the quality of people's life in their home environment, not only for the elderly, but also for the disabled, mothers with prams, the temporarily less mobile, etc.," he said.

He also informed the mayor about some of the citizens' complaints, including changes to bus connections and bus stop locations.

Otherwise, citizens in Maribor turn to the Ombudsman with similar problems as elsewhere in Slovenia. "There were some housing issues, some issues in the field of social transfers, geodetic administration, inter-neighbour and family disputes," he listed.