Working and living on the street, the new normal

Cornellà de LlobregatManuel Heredia gets up every day at 5 in the morning to go to work. He washes his face and teeth, ties up his hair, takes the train, and at 6:20 am he enters the company door. Eight hours later, he showers and does the journey in reverse. Until the next day. It's the same routine for so many workers, but Heredia's particularity is that he lives on the street, an exceptionality that is becoming increasingly normalized, social entities warn. The FOESSA report from Cáritas estimates that in Catalonia 1.4 million workers are poor.

In Heredia's case, just over a year ago a “accumulation of circumstances” left him on the street overnight: he lost his job and the partner with whom he lived kicked him out of the apartment, and with the meager benefit he couldn't even afford a room. “The first day was hard and I gave in to drinking, a stupid decision I haven't repeated,” he explains, and states that today he is “calm, with a clear head.” Now, although he says he has a decent salary, he can't even think about renting an apartment, however small. “I'm saving almost everything I earn, overtime, everything to be able to cover the two months' deposit,” he points out.

Social entities warn that every day in living on the street shortens life and worsens physical and mental healthAlways vigilant

Social entities warn that every day on the street shortens life and worsens the physical and mental health of people living without a dignified roof over their heads. Heredia explains that he has learned to “sleep with half my brain disconnected and the other half, alert,” because what scares him most is being robbed again while he rests or being physically assaulted. For this reason, his sister keeps everything he earns, and he leaves his work clothes at the locker. Tonight, he has very little on top of the cardboard. Before working, he says he followed the minimum hygiene habits at a public fountain and, to avoid being seen, he would get up before sunrise. And when he had a little money, he used the laundry. “The street hasn't taken away my dignity as a person, I've always tried to stay clean and now I take even better care of myself,” he affirms, and recounts how when he was a child he was struck by seeing an old man, all dirty, rummaging through the trash. The image still comes to his mind.

One of the things he tries not to neglect is his diet. He has discovered ready-made meals from supermarkets that do not require cooking and mentions which is the most economical and the best, because they are products that, although a little more expensive, make a meal for him. “For six euros you have a complete salad,” he points out, and notes that he buys fruit above all. He doesn't drink or have any other addiction than tobacco, a vice he says has been impossible for him to quit, like playing the lottery. “Sometimes I think maybe I'll win a big prize and the next day I can afford an apartment.” For now, however, with no prize in sight, the only thing he has is “savings,” with the expectation that by the end of the year he will have house keys.