In Spain, according to data from the National Statistics Institute (INE), there are 28,552 people living in shelters for homeless people, a figure that has grown 25% since 2012, during the previous financial crisis. To these, we must add the thousands who lie in the open, in abandoned warehouses, in shanties, in ‘patera’ apartments, forced to occupy or in unhealthy homes. In Catalonia the Government estimates that there are 60,000 people, but social entities raise it to more than a million people. A study carried out by the consulting firm EY affirms that ending this reality is possible: 1.2 billion euros are needed to rehabilitate 10,000 homes, which are currently empty, where these people who now lie in shelters or care centers could live.
The reason why a person ends up living on the street is complex. Something that the authors of this study have analyzed. “The most frequent causes that cause people to suffer from these types of situations are usually related to factors such as poverty, unemployment, migration, age, health problems, broken relationships or lack of adequate support for people who stop living in public facilities,” the report explains.
The consultant has focused on analyzing the situation of those who live in shelters or care centers. The majority are men (76.7%) and one in three has no source of income. Social entities and unions have been warning of a growing profile of poor workers who cannot afford a decent roof over their heads despite having a salary. Furthermore, in these centers, one in three people treated are women, a group that has grown significantly in the last ten years, when they represented 19.7%. It must be taken into account that on the street, they are much more exposed to sexual and gender violence, prostitution and human trafficking mafias with sexual exploitation.
The ‘stok’ exists: empty homes
The EY report estimates a necessary investment of 1,200 million euros to finance 10,000 homes which are currently empty. And, according to the INE, in Spain there are 3.4 million empty homes. ““The necessary stock exists”, the report insists. The consultants estimate that in each of them three people could live together who now live in shelters and care centers. “With an average house price of about 100,000 euros (taking into account the average house price in Spain of about 60 m2 of surface), to which we would have to add about 20,000 euros to adapt the house, we arrive at an average cost of 120,000 euros per home“the report says.
EY calls on administrations to step up to the plate to increase the social housing park, which unlike other European countries with an average of 20%, in our country it does not exceed 3% of the total. “The current responses to homelessness are not managing to reverse this phenomenon but, on the contrary, it is increasing. Therefore, it is in the hands of all agents involved (investors, individuals and administrations) “encourage a dialogue that provides new ideas capable of providing a solution to this pressing problem,” said the partner responsible for the Private Equity sector and Managing Partner of Strategy and Transactions at EY, Juan López del Alcázar.
Investor complicity
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The president of the SOCIMI, Blanca Hernández, has stated that homelessness is the “most important” social problem in society and that administrations and investors have funds to support NGOs with rentals of empty houses capable of taking out homeless people on the street. In fact, the company is also betting that administrations seek the complicity of the real estate sector and investors so that they can build homes quickly and at a low price. They propose that it be done with fiscal and legislative reforms.
In Catalonia, however, social entities are betting on another model. Promote a law on homelessness that forces all city councils to respond to homeless people, since many flee to large cities due to lack of resources in their localities, thus generating a buffer effect in places like Barcelona, where there are more of 1,200 places for homeless people. The text, which is now being debated in El Parlament, proposes that homeless people have access to an open space, for individual use and sufficient dimensions for private life and that it has at least electricity, running water, gas and a bed. , in addition to ensuring the free public transport and the funeral services for these people.