Lack of adequate housing, job instability, unwelcome solitude, and the widening gap in social equality are the prevailing realities in the region.
SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 4 June (EUROPA PRESS) –
In 2023, Cáritas Diocesana de Tenerife assisted a total of 4,750 households and 16,776 individuals (including 3,912 children) in Santa Cruz de Tenerife province through the 17 archpriests that comprise the Nivariense Diocese, alongside various programs and projects. This represents a 20% increase from 2018 and figures that closely match those of the past four years.
The organization’s annual report, presented to the media on Tuesday by the bishop of the Nivariense Diocese, Bernardo Álvarez; the director of Cáritas Diocesana de Tenerife, Juan Rognoni; and the entity’s general secretary, Ricardo Iglesias, highlights that many of these individuals were availing Cáritas services for the first time, a trend expected to continue throughout the current year.
Cáritas identifies housing shortages, job instability, loneliness, marginalisation, and escalating social inequality as the main social challenges.
Director of the organization, Juan Rognoni, stated that these figures reflect the “permanence of poverty,” underscoring the necessity for urgent political measures to tackle serious issues such as housing shortages in the island chain.
Within the Housing-Social Inclusion sector, Cáritas Diocesana de Tenerife assisted 3,667 individuals last year.
Out of these, 254 were accommodated in one of the seven shelter facilities for the homeless managed by the organization in Tenerife, providing basic needs, psycho-social-educational support, and enhancing employability.
A total of 19 single-parent families – single mothers with dependent children – were among those assisted, according to a statement from Cáritas.
The report also highlights the increasing number of homeless individuals aided by the Mobile Street Care Units (UMAC) project on Tenerife and La Palma.
70% INCREASE IN HOMELESS INDIVIDUALS OVER FIVE YEARS
In 2023, a total of 1,164 homeless individuals received support, marking a 70% increase over five years.
To address this situation, the organization runs initiatives like ‘Base 25’, aimed at preventing homelessness, offering housing alternatives to vulnerable individuals and families, guiding them towards complete social integration.
Last year, the programme assisted 685 households and 1,791 individuals, including 597 minors.
Overall, Cáritas supported 11,152 individuals by meeting basic needs, conducting workshops, improving quality of life, while another 5,624 individuals benefitted from specific projects in the province.
The Employment Program engaged a total of 1,086 individuals, involving vocational training and socio-labor integration initiatives.
Within this, Cáritas Diocesana de Tenerife aided 799 individuals through the island network project ‘Neighbourhoods for Employment: Stronger Together’ and 287 individuals through various Socio-Labour Integration Itineraries.
Out of the total participants, 479 individuals received vocational or complementary training, with 315 (29%) successfully integrating into the workforce.
NEARLY 800 INDIVIDUALS ASSISTED IN LA PALMA
Significantly, the Emergency and Solidarity Campaign on La Palma saw Cáritas assisting 790 individuals affected by the volcanic eruption at ‘Tajogaite’.
Furthermore, 81 individuals received assistance from day care centres for the elderly and other specialised services, such as the ‘Santa Luisa de Marillac’ project in La Gomera, while another 218 individuals participated in the ‘Drago’ detoxification and alcohol withdrawal initiative, boasting a 33% high therapeutic success rate.
Under the solidarity economy sector, two companies were launched in August 2016 for the socio-labour integration of vulnerable groups: ‘114 Espacio Creativo’, focusing on design, graphic arts, and event management, and ‘Buscame las Habichuelas’, specialising in the production and sale of organic agricultural products.
Regarding the demographic breakdown for 2023, the majority of individuals assisted were women (approximately 65%); as they approach the end of their working lives, they tend to face greater vulnerability.
Specifically, individuals aged between 40 and 60 represented nearly 60% of the beneficiaries of Cáritas’ services last year.
Hence, Cáritas Diocesana de Tenerife emphasises the “systematic deprivation” and “precarity of rights” faced by individuals daily, both within the parishes and the institution’s various programmes, reflecting that approximately 29.1% of the Canary Islands population (roughly 600,000 individuals, as per the Foessa Foundation’s latest report from 2022) experience “significant disadvantage,” with over 300,000 individuals enduring “severe exclusion.”
CRITICISM OF EU POLICIES REGARDING “MIGRANT PRISONS”
The organisation also notes the rise in irregular migrants arriving in the Canary Islands, responding with diverse projects and the Human Mobility Programme tailored to this specific group.
Cáritas denounced EU measures aimed at controlling migration flows, transforming locations like the Canary Islands into migrant “prisons,” advocating for border closures, externalisation, and deportations – actions that, according to the organisation, are linked to the push factors compelling migrants to leave their nations.
The entity stresses the need to prioritise fair development policies in migrants’ origin countries and counter criminal exploitation by organisations capitalising on despair and lack of opportunities in impoverished regions.
Cáritas Diocesana de Tenerife also initiated a Volunteer Plan with 884 participants – 681 women and 203 men.
On the financial front, Cáritas Tenerife reported an income of €8,643,045.39 last year, with €3,706,976.35 (43%) stemming from private contributions by individuals, foundations, companies, and parish collections on the first Sunday of each month, while the remaining €4,936,069.04 (57%) was sourced from public funds.
