Homelessness in [Region]: Town Councils Seek Generalitat Aid

BarcelonaCatalan councils have launched a cry for help so that the Generalitat does not leave them alone when it comes to caring for people living on the streets. Although there is no official census that puts numbers on homelessness, it has been noted that it is a phenomenon that already exceeds the metropolitan crown and extends to small towns throughout the country. The councils share that, for now, the problem does not have enough financial resources.

The SOS of the mayors was strongly felt at the summit that the grievance trustee, Esther Giménez-Salinas, called this Thursday, with the presence of the Minister of Social Rights, Mònica Martínez Bravo; municipal representatives from around twenty municipalities – Vilanova, Barcelona, ​​El Masnou, Martorell, Manresa, Badalona and l’Hospitalet, among others); the president of the Provincial Council of Barcelona, ​​Lluïsa Moret, and the president of the Third Sector Board, Xavier Trabado.

After four hours of meeting around a large rectangular table, the general tone of the attendees was optimism. The union is confident that a national agreement will be reached and has urged the councils to sign up for one of the five working groups that will be opened in order to have a base for the spring of 2026.

At this summit, the union has arrived with fresh data on homelessness. In the absence of an official census, the institution passed a questionnaire in November to 84 municipalities – in the metropolitan area and with more than 20,000 inhabitants – to ask how many people sleep in the open and whether they sleep in settlements, on the street or in occupied warehouses. Seven of the municipalities did not respond, although they are obliged to attend to the demands of the Ombudsman. Based on the surveys, it is established that there are 6,724 people in a street situation, a figure that leaves out those who are in hostels, social hostels or unsanitary housing.

In the turn of words, sources consulted by the ARA present at the meeting have explained that the mayors have basically focused on demanding more money from the Generalitat to care for the homeless because they cannot with their own budgets. In fact, the complaint about the budgetary tension has not focused only on homelessness, and many of the interventions have admitted financial difficulties for basic social services, the first to receive the problems of the citizenry.

Already outside the meeting, councilor Martínez Bravo has assured the commitment to accompany the town councils and has recognized that, although it is a municipal competence, the Government must redouble its efforts.

More than 400 settlements

Of the nearly 7,000 people who live on the streets, 4,000 are in the metropolitan area and 4,300 sleep overnight, while the rest of the identified people live in 409 settlements, either outdoors or in occupied buildings. A little more than half (52%) are under the supervision of municipal social services. By age, those at the extremes of life are the ones with the least presence: minors represent 2.6% and people over 66, 5%. By gender, female homelessness – still little analyzed – accounts for 12% of the total, although if you look at hostels and hostels or rooms for rent, there are more women.

In order to try to give attention to this group – heterogeneous and with diverse needs – there is in Parliament a proposal for a law on homelessness presented by the social entities in which it is proposed that municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants must have specific services for the homeless, such as showers, canteens, decent residential spaces or slogans, as well as that people be counted and social educators available on the street. According to the data from the Ombudsman’s survey, today 47% of the municipalities do not offer residential places and 52% do not have a social canteen either. Around 60% do facilitate hygiene and clothing.

After four years of procedures and lapsing at the end of the previous legislature, the proposal is blocked pending the parties’ submissions. The initiative upsets the municipal world because of this obligation if it is not accompanied by money, and in the majority of interventions this concern has been transferred, in the words of the councillor. On the contrary, there has been no intervention on the obstacles that councils put up when it comes to registering people who are homeless, without a fixed address or without a housing contract, despite the fact that the state rule is clear.

For Giménez-Salinas, the mayors’ demands for more money for social services are reasonable and fair, while the president of the Third Sector Board has claimed that social entities must have governance and decision-making capacity in how to address the elimination of homelessness, because they are the ones who know the people and the ones who put the first care professionals there.