Refuge – News from aveiro
The latest publishing of data from the planning nucleus and homeless to intervene reveals that by the end of 2024, the number of people who have no shelter in Lisbon fell by 7.6 % during the previous year, with a 20 % decrease in the number of people who remain overnight on the street. These numbers make up a positive sign, but they cannot be understood as an access point.
Dugo Fernandez Sousa
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The presence of thousands of people who do not have a house and several hundreds sleep in the street is a collective failure of successive governments, as well as municipalities. It is a social problem, a issue of human dignity, general health and urban planning. No one should live in the open.
The partially registered reduction is due to measures such as removing tents from the main road, accompanied by the availability of reception solutions, using hostels, pensions, or temporary residence. This is a step with aesthetic effect, but solving the problem means creating conditions for people who need temporary measures.
The urgency of the problem requires a plan that depends on three axes: the housing available with technical support, social monitoring, prevention and performance before the prominent truth, and partnerships with the social sector and society.
Regarding housing with accompanying, programs such as housing first, with application in European cities and some areas of Portugal, have shown effective, because housing stability is the basis of any process of social reintegration.
With regard to prevention, the government must intervene through evacuation, legal support, biology networks and monitoring risk positions.
Finally, with regard to institutional partnerships, Portugal has a fabric of social, religious and societal institutions with experience in the terrain, which must be granted strategic participation. This expression with civil society prefers solutions with more proximity and effectiveness.
In conclusion, the way we deal with the most weak says a lot about the type of society we are. Therefore, it is important to continue to invest in organized and permanent solutions for the homeless, and they measure their progress on the ground and the face of those who finally have a ceiling at the end of the day.
* The writer of the book “The Trends of the Nation: Reflections on Portuguese”. Professor at the Jean Piaget Institute for Applied Arts at the Nova de Gaaya Villa.
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