Homelessness is on the rise in Badalona, where there is no municipal shelter.
The city's social organizations count 110 homeless people and are serving twice as many users as two years ago.
BarcelonaBadalona still has no municipal shelter for homeless people, a year after the mayor, Xavier García Albiol, promised to open a new center to replace the one in Can Bofí Vell, closed by a municipal order that left 45 users homeless who spent the night. The Popular Party leader then justified dismantling the service in order to redesign it and pledged to create 26 new places and a development of 24 social housing units. However, the Badalona Acull organization denounces the city council's "lack of political will" in response to ARA's questions.
Without a municipal shelter, local organizations are assisting with the city's social emergency, while the number of people forced to survive in the open grows. Four have managed to get the council to give them accommodation again. In compliance with a court ruling that allowed the plaintiffs' appeal against the center's closure. The remaining residents of the shelter, accustomed to "making a living," remain on the city streets, are cared for by organizations, or have left Badalona, explains activist Carles Sagués of Badalona Acull.
Precisely, the anniversary of the closure coincides with the fifth count of homeless people in Badalona, which was carried out early Wednesday morning, with the collaboration of more than 200 volunteers who walked the streets of the city. The inspection, which has a quantitative objective, found 110 people sleeping outdoors, in cars, at ATMs, or under cover, a figure that is 22% more than in the last count two years ago (90) and almost triple compared to the first of 2016 (39). The figure is very close to the City Council's estimate of 117 homeless people, which it has provided for the first time. However, Mar Alsamora, director of social action at the Roca i Pi Legacy Foundation, points out that, due to the rain, it is possible that there are actually more and that tonight some people have managed to get shelter to avoid exposure to the streets.
300 people in settlements
Alsamora also highlights that the picture of social vulnerability in Badalona is completed by the 214 people – 151 men and 63 women – who have spent the night in shelters and flats run by social organizations integrated into the Badalona Homeless Roundtable, which is more than double the previous count. In addition, there are 833 people – 346 men and 487 women – who receive financial support and assistance from organizations to pay for a room and have been counted. 291 more people settled in settlements and other unsafe housing, according to data provided by the City Council.
For Alsamora and Sagués, the increase in homeless people in the city is no surprise, and therefore, they agree that an active policy is urgently needed to build more public housing and other services that "dignify lives." Sagués states that organizations are receiving increasing requests for food aid that are not supported by municipal social services, illustrating that "poverty is intensifying" in Badalona.
Among the 217 volunteers that the Roundtable mobilized to carry out the count were students from the Betúlia School in Badalona and also people who had lived on the streets and are now in apartments provided by social organizations. "They are people who have wanted to give back everything they received," explains Alsamora, who concludes that, in addition, it is confirmation that the model that prioritizes housing (Housing First(in English) is essential for the "recovery of people", who once have a decent roof are able to return to normal life.