- Provivienda, HOGAR SÍ together with the City Council of Seville and the Junta de Andalucía present the innovation project Derechos a la vivienda (Rights to housing), which is expected to put an end to homelessness in the region.
- The presentation ceremony was attended by José Manuel Caballol (general director of HOGAR SÍ), Gema Gallardo (general director of Provivienda), Antonio Ismael Huertas (general director of Social Protection and Neighborhoods of Preferential Action of the Junta de Andalucía) and Antonio Muñoz (mayor of Seville).
Seville, November 14, 2022. HOGAR SÍ and Provivienda, thanks to the financing of the Next Generation EU funds of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan of the Ministry of Social Rights and Agenda 2030, have celebrated the presentation of the innovation project Housing Rights. Aimed at implementing a housing model that promotes the deinstitutionalization processes of people experiencing homelessness. Thanks to the participation of 12 regional and local public administrations, the project seeks to transform public policies for the care of homeless people over the next 3 years in the cities of Avilés, Cartagena, Gijón, Madrid, Murcia, Barcelona and Seville and on the island of Mallorca.
The day, framed in the opening of the week of the homeless in Seville, was attended by the mayor, Antonio Muñoz Martínez; the general director of Social Protection and Neighborhoods of preferential action of the Junta de Andalucía, Antonio Ismael Huertas Mateo; the general director of Provivienda, Gema Gallardo; and the general director of HOGAR SÍ, José Manuel Caballol.
The main objective of the "Rights to Housing" project is to transform the network of resources for homelessness care in Spain by providing solutions adapted to each person for a safe and chosen transition to a life in the community. "Housing Rights" is a pilot project that aims to promote the development of deinstitutionalization policies, as well as the prevention of institutionalization, so that participants require less support. To this end, 130 homeless people in Seville will be assisted. The project also has a rigorous evaluation system that seeks to generate evidence of its impact, with the aim of helping to create new public policies to address homelessness.
In the words of Antonio Muñoz Martínez, Mayor of Seville, "this project promotes policies being developed by the Seville City Council, and is also an example of collaboration between public administrations and entities to continue working towards the eradication of homelessness".
For his part, Antonio Huertas, general director of Social Protection and Neighborhoods of preferential action of the Junta de Andalucía, has highlighted the various lines of subsidies that the Board has to combat homelessness, noting that "we will be attentive to the results of the evaluation of this project to be able to export them to other programs and other provinces".
HOGAR SÍ and Provivienda have been developing together since 2017 the Housing First model in Spain, and from both organizations argue that decent housing is the starting point for the recovery of the rights of people experiencing homelessness, as previous evaluations have shown both in the national and international context.
"Through housing, people can exercise the rest of their rights, recover family ties and protect their health. We have to seize this opportunity to change public policies and prevent residential exclusion by providing solutions based on affordable housing," says Gema Gallardo, CEO of Provivienda.
For his part, José Manuel Caballol, CEO of HOGAR SÍ, insists that: "Eradicating homelessness is possible, but it requires a paradigm shift in public policies to achieve it. Moving from shelters to housing in the community and giving people back their ability to decide about their own lives. This is what the project aims to demonstrate with the commitment and collaboration of the Junta de Andalucía and the Seville City Council".
For Provivienda and HOGAR SÍ, the State Law for the Right to Housing, the Comprehensive National Strategy for the Homeless and the National Strategy for Deinstitutionalization at the national level, as well as the future new Law on the Right to Housing in Andalusia are an opportunity to transform the care system for people in a situation of homelessness, placing housing as a basic pillar within our Welfare State.
About:
As of 2017, HOME YES y Provivienda are joining forces to develop the Housing First model in Spain. The objectives of this Alliance are threefold:
- Generate a dynamic of development of the model in Spain, respecting the fidelity of the original model.
- Intensify the separation between housing and treatment of people.
- Incorporate other organizations for the development of the model in territories where other entities interested in joining and following the methodology are identified.
HOGAR YES is a social, non-profit, independent, plural and statewide entity, created in 1998. We are convinced that it is possible to end homelessness and we believe in the responsibility of facing the problem from the society, putting the focus on the problem and not on the person who suffers it.
Provivienda is a non-profit association that has been working since 1989 so that everyone can enjoy the right to housing on equal terms. From our association we want to offer housing that changes lives and creates community, responding to the residential needs, especially of people in more difficult situations.
