The Institute of Social and Socio-Sanitary Care (IASS) of the Cabildo de Tenerife gathered yesterday more than 200 professionals and social agents related to the attention to homelessness to advance in the design of a framework for coordinated and comprehensive action that enhances their social and community inclusion.
The island president, Pedro Martín, stressed that it is a problem that “often is invisible” and for which it is necessary to seek alternatives that allow both deepening the care provided and preventing and avoiding new people affected.
In his opinion, “it is not just about giving a roof, we have to go further, we have to analyze what the problem is and where it comes from and look for alternatives so that these people can regain their self-esteem and direct their lives, being aware of that any of us can find themselves in the same situation”. The Cabildo allocates an annual contribution of 1.6 million euros to finance various resources, both direct care and prevention of homelessness, with which in 2021 more than 3,800 people were served. He highlighted “the importance of listening to opinions and experiences to guide and define new resources that help solve the problem.”
The Councilor for Citizen Participation and Diversity, Nauzet Gugliotta, praised the work that has been carried out to address the problem of homelessness “with great sensitivity, from the perspective that it is a broad phenomenon that affects a diverse population and through the reinforcement of coordination with other administrations and entities involved in their care”. He indicated that “it is the first time that a participatory methodology has been applied to address the problem of homelessness from an island perspective and with the opinion of both social entities and public administrations.”
The Vice Chancellor of the ULL, Néstor Torres, emphasized the value of these conferences and reiterated that the institution “is at the service of society” and willing to “contribute to the resolution” of problems. “There is an investigation group that has supported the preparation of the reports. It is a solvent, solid investigation, based on reliable metrics that are a starting point so that they can be analyzed and reach conclusions”, he added.
Almost 2,800 affected
These days are born due to the results of the study on people in a situation of extreme residential exclusion in Tenerife 2021, carried out by Cáritas Diocesana de Tenerife and financed by IASS, which revealed that 2,738 people on the island were affected.
Among the participants, entities such as Don Bosco, Cáritas, Red Cross, Nuevo Futuro or El Buen Samaritano stand out, which pay attention to the homeless and collaborate with the Cabildo in these days in which, through workshops and round tables, they addressed aspects such as public-private collaboration, intervention methodologies or coordination. The strategy applied in the Basque Country on this subject was known.
