He has been captaining one of the municipal areas hardest hit by the COVID pandemic for a year and a half, that of social services. This year alone, more than 11,000 families have been cared for, of which 3,000 have never had to resort to municipal help before. By the end of the year, more than 11 million will have been paid in emergency benefits, with food and rent leading the way. These are numbers that Rosario González, councilor for Social Action in Santa Cruz, admits that they are going to stay for a while, because “although the economic and health recovery is beginning to show, the social effect that the pandemic has had will take longer to disappear” . In spite of everything, he believes that next year social services should begin to move towards a less welfare system, and more focused on intervention with people, on accompaniment. “We are going to implement a system called Robotic that is going to take care of all the automatic processes, freeing up our social workers so that they have more time to intervene with users,” he says. He also makes a warning about what can happen between now and the end of the year if they fail to carry out a last budgetary modification: “Hopefully it is only that the payment of some social benefits is delayed, and that it is not that there is no credit.” This, he explains, could go through the challenge that the PSOE has made on the use of 2.5 million of the remaining IMAS treasury destined to benefits and emergency contracts.
-Everyone talks about the economic recovery that can be seen at the end of the year. Do Social Services notice that improvement?
“It is true that we are recovering healthily and economically, but the social consequences may last a little longer. To recover we will need more time, and continue working, making a good intervention with the families, so that they can leave the system ”.
-A few months ago it was indicated from the IMAS that spending on the Economic Benefits of Social Assistance (PEAS) would exceed eight million euros at the end of the year. Has that figure been reached yet?
“At the end of the year it will be more than we had anticipated, we are at eight million now, and there are just under three months to finish the year. We estimate that we will be around 11 or 12 million euros ”.
-Do they have enough credit or will they have to make a budget modification?
“Right now we are in a somewhat delicate situation on this matter. We had approved a credit modification of 2.5 million, which today we would have to have for our use, but the PSOE contested this credit modification, so we do not have that money available. This has left us in a somewhat complicated situation, because we were counting on that we would have that money already, and it is being delayed a lot due to all the administrative management involved in resolving a dispute, putting in danger even essential aid such as rent payments, food , water and light”.
-Is there a risk that people will get paid later or that they will not even receive the corresponding help?
“That is something that I cannot assure today. That is the fear we have. Precisely, what this challenge has meant is that, at this time we cannot ensure that any family suffers any delay. I hope it is just that, a delay, and not that there is no credit available. I really trust that we do not have to meet at that point, and the most that occurs is a delay in the payment of benefits ”.
-Is there a plan B if the resolution of this challenge is delayed more than expected?
“Plan B would be to turn to the City Council, the Treasury, which this year has assisted us in everything we have requested. In principle, the budget modification would go to the plenary session this month, so that next month we would have that money available. It is true that we have had to adjust the planning a lot because that money should have come to us last month. Maybe we will have to adjust the payments with some providers, although, of course, the priority will be the people and families of our municipality ”.
-And how are social services facing up to 2022?
“We have an objective, beyond supporting people and their families, who will continue to have their basic needs covered, and that is to be able to focus more on a greater intervention, to get out of welfare, and to have a greater intervention with families. . We are all aware that if we give financial aid, but we do not help to solve the social or employment situation of the people well, what we are doing is solving the problem at that moment, but not in the long term. The objectives that we have set ourselves are to look more long-term and for this we are going to support ourselves in the digitization of processes ”.
-What does this digitization consist of?
“We want to implement a robotization system for certain procedures, through programs called Robotics, so that bureaucratic deadlines are going to be shortened, and that will give us more time so that professionals can dedicate it to real intervention with families. With these programs being part of the administrative procedure we will achieve that, for example, the time that an official dedicates to comparing accounting documents can be used by families, because that work can be done by a machine, which works 24 hours a day, 365 days a year . It is time that is freed up so that the staff can dedicate themselves to intervention ”.
-One of the workhorses in your area has been to incorporate more workers. Will you be able to add new pieces in 2022?
“Right now we are working with Human Resources to modify the RPT for 2022. But already in 2021 we have incorporated personnel. For example, we have created an emergency service, with 18 people (including social and administrative workers), an emergency team that has allowed us to free base social workers from this care. We have also increased the disability care team with a new social educator, a social worker and two administrative assistants, and we have the idea of being able to increase the area for the elderly, which is what we anticipate for 2022 ”.
-Do you know how much your budget is going to increase?
“We plan an increase, as confirmed by the Treasury, but we do not want it to only reflect the increase in basic benefits, something that all families will have covered. We are focused on the expansion of programs and services, in attention to families, in working even from childhood or in the prevention of loneliness in the elderly. That is what we want to promote in 2022, to get out of a healthcare system, and that goal will be easier to achieve as other administrations guarantee their powers ”.
-As which?
“For example the Minimum Living Income. It was a good option that allowed us to intervene more, because the families already had an income. But in the end, instead of being an effective measure, it has been effective, because it has not reached all families. The last data I read is that 9% of the Canarian population was perceiving it, that is why I believe that all the administrations must work together in this line. If we also have financial support from other administrations, it will be easier for us to spend more time intervening with the families ”.
-What model do you have in mind when carrying out these interventions?
“The model we think of is one centered on the person and their environment. As a social worker that I have been, it is essential that it is not at the request of the user, but that we can have a planning, and accompany him on the way, that he does not see social services as a place to call when he has a problem, but to be by his side, accompanying him on the way, with the resources, informing him … The other day a social worker told me that the greatest joy for him is to be able to give an economic benefit to a family that has just got a job, because that is what he wants say you are logging out of the system. That is fundamental, to intervene in all the steps, and taking into account that we will always be there, because in the end life shows us that a situation of need can be generated at any time, and this year we could see it with COVID ” .
-Would the aid be linked to receiving this accompaniment?
“In principle no, because there we would be limiting the rights of the people themselves, and I don’t think that is the way. People don’t have to feel obligated to go through the process, they have to feel accompanied, and see for themselves that this is really what they need. If a person attends a training or any other type of action, because if not, they will not give that consideration, we will not have the need for change ”.
-Talk about what the pandemic has meant, with situations generated overnight, what profiles are you finding that you didn’t have before?
“This year we are talking about 3,000 new family units, people who had never seen the need to go to social services, and now they are. The important thing is that we are responding to all these families. What it is about is that this help is punctual, that it does not become chronic ”.
-Another workhorse is the situation of the homeless, what is being done to improve this issue?
“Apart from the resource of the Municipal Reception Center (CMA), this year we have increased the home for homeless youth by one more floor, which is for very young profiles, who we saw entering the shelter and that it was not the resource more suitable for them. We had one floor and we added another. We have also increased funding for the Housing First program, which is working very well in getting people off the streets. It is also true that our idea is to get out of that CMA model, to get out of that macrocenter. It is a long process that will take time, but the idea is to create small resources, so that, when they are created, the CMA places will decrease. In this I believe that the collaboration of other municipalities is essential. As soon as the rest can have their own lodging resources, we will be able to leave the shelter as we know it today ”.
