Provivienda and HOGAR SÍ have presented this morning the conference "Keys to change: Housing rights in Barcelona", with the collaboration of the Barcelona City Council.
This meeting is already the second of a total of five that will take place in different municipalities, on the occasion of the presentation of the learning and knowledge generated through the pilot project of social innovation "Housing Rights", which they have developed since 2022 in the Catalan capital, thanks to the financing of the Next Generation EU funds through the Plan for Recovery, Transformation and Resilience of the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumption and Agenda 2030.
Together with the participation of twelve regional and local public administrations, the project has sought to promote deinstitutionalization processes to transform the homelessness care system in eight locations: Avilés, Barcelona, Cartagena, Gijón, Madrid, Murcia and Seville; and on the island of Mallorca.
The conference was opened by Carme Fortea, Director of Homelessness Services, and Susana Bonet, Director of Residential Services. During the meeting, the main results and lessons learned from the project were presented by the Fresno consulting firm. In addition, three round tables were held: "Early care, rapid rehousing and its incorporation into public policy"; "New models for autonomy: self-directed support, personalized budgets and co-production"; and "Processes of deinstitutionalization and homelessness: progress and concrete lessons learned in Barcelona". Representatives of the Barcelona City Council and specialists in the field from HOGAR SÍ and Provivienda participated in all the round tables.
Later, two simultaneous workshops were held on facilitating and promoting outlets from the homeless care system into the community and methodologies for accompanying young homeless people. The meeting ended with speeches by Sonia Fuertes, Commissioner for Social Action of the Barcelona City Council, and Dámaris Barajas, Director of Strategic Planning at Provivienda.
Main results in Barcelona
In total, 157 people have participated in "Housing Rights" in Barcelona. The project, in addition to providing a residential solution, has offered homeless people the opportunity to work on their life project, access public and community services and have social support and professional accompaniment.
57% of the people who were part of the deinstitutionalization line, those who were residing in institutions of the traditional network of care for homelessness, have left the project autonomously. While 79% of the people in the early care line, those who have been homeless for less than 6 months, have left the project autonomously. These data show that a quick response obtains better results. In addition, 81% of autonomous exits have been achieved in the self-directed support line.
Although the final evaluation of the project at the state level will be presented on December 3 and 4 in Madrid, some of the results of the project have already been shared in the Catalan capital, such as the fact thathaving personalized and flexible support led by the person is a fundamental tool for dealing with homelessness .
The project has shown thathomelessness is temporary. If people feel that their situation can change, they are more adaptable to change. In addition, the program places housing diversification at the center of solutions to homelessness. Offering different housing alternatives allows more people to move out of the traditional homelessness system.
Provivienda and HOGAR SÍ, through "Housing Rights", emphasize the importance of administrations recognizing the challenges of the homelessness care system. In this sense, betting on people-centered solutions becomes one of the keys to change.
