Critical Gender Violence misery, not the beggar THE COUNTRY (10/10/1910) - CARMEN MORAN Extreme poverty is the most visible of all situations necessary. It is those people dirty, smelly toothless who stumble down the street, victims of alcohol or drugs, until they fall asleep under some cardboard. And often, just in the downtown and tourist areas of cities, leading to the rejection of the residents and visitors. The number of people who have fallen to the step of poverty is estimated at about 30,000 in Spain, the same as last year and the previous one, because these are children of other crises. There will also this if not remedied. And usually the municipalities choose the easiest solution: hose down in the street seating areas, arcades fences, public banks backless outdoor ATMs. "They confuse the fight against poverty to the fight against the poor. With that achieved only an optical effect, and will not be here, but appear in another place, "says Pedro Cabrera, a sociologist, professor at the Universidad Pontificia de Comillas.
Is it a crime to live and sleep in the street? No. Are a problem of public policy? "Absolutely. "What are people leaving the football game and creates a traffic jam? No. If I was a public order problem would be easily resolvable: it becomes a law antivagos and rogues or social danger, as there was in the days and already is, "says Dario Perez, head of the Department of Social Samur at City Hall Madrid. Now, Perez knows that "the habits of these people come together, sometimes of poor hygiene and that creates an impact, but it is a social impact and as such must be faced with social measures.
In Spain there are over two million empty houses and 30,000 people living on the street . Sounds simple, right? For there is a single municipality that has a plan to remove these people from the street, with a diagnosis, targets and timeframes for compliance, "says Pedro Cabrera." Homeless people have every right to be on the street But politicians have every duty to get them out of it and restore their dignity. "With the cut of 12% has been the Government's budget for emergencies society could afford, for example, nearly 800 seats per year in shelters pedestrians.
But some do not want to leave his corner, where neighbors, caring, care for them until it reaches another companion double cardboard, wine for the day and sleep at night. Then it's a crowd and neighborhood solidarity change the rejection. It's time social workers, meager municipal teams where more than half of its staff are volunteers. The other major arm against poverty is made up of NGOs.
The variety of cases is almost as large as people living on the street. True, there are profiles, mostly men, many immigrants with no family network, problems with alcohol and drugs fights at home or a cocktail of all that one day removed from the social margins. But there are those who want to leave the arcade and becomes entangled in a bureaucratic tangle. "I met a woman, a victim of gender violence and mental problems, who lived at the airport. If I went to a shelter for battered told him not to go to a psychiatric facility, where he also refused entry because he was the victim of domestic violence and that was not his place, "says Pedro Cabrera, who has made homelessness counts in several cities, one by one, on winter nights, helped by hundreds of volunteers.
This woman was in the street without the authorities to agree. And Cabrera also remember the other one who collected scrap metal and what drew him was to live and send money to his son. But I could not go to a shelter because the schedule did not fit with their business: the scrap had to pick it up at dawn.
For such cases there is low demand centers. Few, but there is, as having Caritas in Bilbao from 10 years ago. "This is not required to be detoxified, although advises and supports if they are willing to do so; of 1:00 to 5:00 can get a coffee, chat, have a shower or shelter from the rain that came over at night, "explains Corada Caramel, spokesman for the center Hontza (Owl). At first, problems with neighbors were forced to relocate, now no snags. There is no rules in these centers, but the conditions are more conducive for everyone to accommodate them your circumstances.
for solving homelessness is housing and jobs, experts say. "What good is that a person is detoxified and reinserted if the only shelter they have is the street? Sure. Look, the largest hostel is in jail, because the 5% who are living there before in the street" Pedro Cabrera begins. "But what is worse is that 10% of residents say that when they go no espera más que la calle: pueden ser unas 7.000 personas, dada la población carcelaria", añade. [Los testimonios que acompañan esta información han sido recogidos por Cabrera en un estudio]
Cabrera cree, sin embargo, que los albergues tal y como eran antes y aún perduran algunos, no son el sitio más adecuado para la socialización de estas personas. "En Glasgow, por ejemplo, se fue abandonando la idea de estas grandes instituciones, con medidas de vigilancia, horarios restrictivos, por microestructuras, viviendas con apoyo y acompañamiento social. Creo que ese es el camino".
El camino que nos lleva a Barcelona. Desde 2005, la Generalitat potencia una red de viviendas sociales que provide support to NGOs working with the homeless. "They manage 850 homes and give them 2,400 euros per household per year. In total we have invested about 18 million euros," said Joan Batlle, one of the leaders of this program of the Generalitat. "There are 117 housing associations working with inclusion," he says. One is Arrels, broad experience with homelessness. "In the 20 supervised apartments that we manage about 50 people live. The requirement is to have the capacity to live together. They, with the support of a family worker and three social workers, are normalizing their lives, distribute tasks, cleaning, collect, to cooking times. And bring between 150 and 200 euros of income to value the effort, " Arrels has a spokesman, Ramon Noro.
No time to stay. Some people grow older and enter nursing homes or where they were and still receive benefits for their dependent. Others married and were reunited with normal life.
"If just land on the street and get into a shelter can bring you down even more," said Noro. "It is true that the hostels are sometimes not the solution because they only provide short and long processes are required to work with the homeless, although there is increasing with medium and long stays. But we must also recognize that many of these People who have spent years on the street are not able to move directly to a supervised housing, of which we have some in Zaragoza, "says Gustavo García Herrero, director of the municipal shelter in that city.
This expert favors a gradual process, with continued support centers host before moving on to the houses. "The shelters have to be diverse, flexible, because if we apply the rules as are many people remain in the street. These centers also need to promote autonomy and provide privacy, "he adds.
In any case, sheltered housing are cheaper than pensions in staying and leaving his pay entirely push these people. So much so that some of these hostels adapt the price they charge per month if salary increases minimum insertion are those who have nothing.
