The start of the summer season and the return of tourism to the Catalan coast will mean that, in less than two months, 6,000 refugees who are still sheltered in Catalan hotels they will have to go to other communities. It is what sources of the Red Cross and the Generalitat if the Ministry of Social Inclusion does not transfer emergency funds for foster care to the Catalan government. So far, in the last three weeks, the more than 3,000 Ukrainians arrived in Barcelona have already been relocated to other Spanish cities such as Vigo, Segovia or Granadagiven the lack of hotel space in Catalonia.
“I have learned not to get too attached to the refugees because then they call you desperate saying that they are being sent to Segovia, asking you to make them stay here… And your soul hurts but you can’t do anything. Now they are in an isolated town, but of course, I cannot welcome them in my house “, she is honest with El Periódico a Ukrainian translator who has been working as a volunteer at the Fira de Barcelona Reception, Welcome and Referral Center. An explanation, and a regret, that is also repeated by many of her colleagues who collaborate with the National Police. “They don’t stay here anymore, they take coaches and send them to Vigo, Segovia, Granada, Asturias… It’s been a few weeks since the refugees from Ukraine can’t stay in Catalonia, there’s nowhere to house them,” they explain.
The Generalitat implores the emergency funds to be transferred by the Ministry of Social Inclusion and Migration
state competition
It was an expected situation. The Red Cross knew that the hotels in Catalonia, used in the first moment of emergency, could not last forever. And more in the first summer without restrictions due to the pandemic. “Hotels are a short-term solution, but the recovery of families is much more favorable in housing than in a hotel room“, they count from the entity. As the competences for the reception of refugees are state, it is the Ministry of Social Inclusion and Migration who decides the locations where the Ukrainians will go to live, and many of these go through towns and provinces of the empty Spain, with a lower cost of housing than the big cities.
As of Easter, the hotel sector in Catalonia said that it could no longer continue to offer its facilities. Since then, nearly 3,000 people fleeing the war they have arrived in Barcelona but have ended up in other locations in Spain. “Those who do not have family here, nor have medical needs, we have been transferring them to other places. The issue is that hotels can no longer be empty, reservations arrive and they ask us to leave“, they continue from the NGO. A situation that is also confirmed by Mireia Mata, general secretary of Igualtat del Govern.
In the Maresme and Salou
In reality, the 6,000 people who are still staying in Catalan hotels, mostly mothers with children, are living in two highly touristic locations: municipalities in the Maresme coast to Blanes and the area of La Pineda and Salou, on the Costa Daurada. These are the families that the Red Cross will have to move locations in the coming weeks. “We are trying to hold out until the end of June so that at least the children can finish the school year, but as soon as school ends we will have to find another location that the Ministry tells us, and it will surely not be Catalonia,” they warn from the Red Cross.
That is what the Generalitat wants to avoid. “We want to be a welcoming land, we already have 7,000 managed health cards and 4,000 children who go to Catalan school“, Mata continues. But he warns that, for the exiles to stay, it has to be at the expense of the promised European funds. “We cannot stop financing other services, other resources. What we need is that the Ministry, through an emergency resolution, transfer us part of the 1,200 million euros that come from Europe for the war in Ukraine so that we can look for facilities here and offer them to entities so that these families do not have to leave Catalonia”, continues Mata.
While this money does not arrive, the Generalitat is trying to get more than 100 homes for the reception of Ukrainians. “We are reviewing the people who volunteered to host refugees in March and we only value people with economic capacity who can guarantee a reception for at least six months,” says Mata. Many, for example, offered their second homes but in the summer they want to enjoy them. In addition, the Government has asked the municipalities that if have empty flats or spaces, they give them to the Catalan Housing Agency to be able to dispose of them and give them to specialized entities as soon as Slavic families are referred to them.
No help for families
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At the same time, the bulk of the 20,000 Ukrainians who have arrived in Catalonia are in foster families. Whether they are countrymen or family members living here, such as associations that welcomed children during the summer or individuals who offered themselves through social networks. It is estimated that more than 13,000 refugees are in this situation. The problem is that they do not receive any financial help to cover the costs of hosting. “I am outraged because the Social Services tell me that they cannot help them, but the Generalitat also gets rid of us,” he complains Xavier Almirall, resident of Cabrils (Maresme) who has welcomed five refugees at home. “We cannot face this alone, the administrations they are not helping us at all. In Barcelona, the emergency space opened by the city council has given me an appointment for the end of the month, but we need basic things: clothes, food, bills that have been duplicated, phone cards…“, insists Laia Morales, secretary of the És Per Tu association, which has two unaccompanied minors and a woman with her daughter at home.
Mata assumes that they must resolve this situation and, at least, provide financial aid to the families in Catalonia that are making this effort. “We want to be a land of welcome but we cannot afford to impoverish the people who are hosting“, recognizes Mata. However, he warns that the Government is not going to give this aid until the funds from the Central Government arrive. “We cannot drop anyone or anything to help in the reception of the Ukrainians”ditch.