Press Release 15/07/2013
The Basque Country spent almost 23% of the State total attending to the homeless
Centres for homeless people are above all located in the capitals of the provinces, with greater dispersion in Gipuzkoa
The service to homeless people in the social services network of the Basque Country in 2012 was performed using 202 centres that offered 2,800 lodging places and 3,455 meal places, according to the Statistics on Resources for Homeless People prepared by Eustat. These centres were staffed by 2,114 employees and 46 million euros were used to operate them, being 22.9% of the total expenditure in Spain which reached 201 million euros, according to data provided by the National Statistics Institute (INE).
Homeless people or those in residency exclusion are defined as those who do not have access to accommodation that complied with the criteria of liveability and who are consequently temporarily forced to live on the street or in temporary accommodation provided by the public sector or by non-government organisations. On the 14th of December of 2012, 2,187 people were sleeping in these homeless centres.
By province, Bizkaia offered half of the centres and places, for both accommodation and meals, their proportion in human and financial resources used being somewhat higher. Gipuzkoa represented about 35% of the centres and places and Álava the remaining 15%, its percentage of resources used being somewhat lower.
By municipalities, the distribution of the centres was uneven; Bilbao offered 40% of the centres in the Basque Country and 75% of the centres of Bizkaia; Vitoria-Gasteiz had 91% of the centres in Álava; and finally, San Sebastián offered 37% of the centres in Gipuzkoa, which presents a more decentralised model.
The effort of the different public administrations stood at 40 million euros (88% of the expenditure carried out), whereas resources from the centres themselves financed 6.5% of the activity, private institutions provided 4% and the remaining 2% came from private donations. The local administrations bore the greatest financial effort, financing 63% of expenditure.
Public financing constituted the sole source in 60% of the centres and most of it in 24%. 71% of privately owned centres were mostly or entirely financed by the public administration, which bore 82% of the expenditure carried out on these.
Volunteer personnel on a part-time basis represented 44% of the personnel that worked at centres for homeless people
In 2012, 2,114 people worked to attend to homeless people in social service centres of the Basque Country, of which 982 (46%) were salaried personnel, most of them on a full-time basis (69%) and women (63%). Moreover, it is worth highlighting that 986 people worked on a volunteer basis at these centres, almost all on a part-time basis and mostly women (60%).
A total of 535 homeless people stayed overnight at hostels and low-demand centres
Individuals in utmost residential exclusion, known as the homeless, are those who live on the street and sleep overnight in centres. Taking the 14th of December of 2012 as a reference date, on which the centres that reinforce the winter offering against the cold were open, there were 586 accommodation places and 535 people spent the night in them, so the occupancy of the centres was of 91%. 957 meal services were provided in the 518 catering places available and breakfast was provided to 80 of the people who stayed overnight
1,652 homeless people temporarily resided at the social services network of centres
The service to homeless people was provided from 152 centres that offered 2,214 places, 52 of these centres offer their network of flats as a sole resource.
Most of these centres were not orientated towards any specific sector of the population, although there were some for people with a criminal history, with drug addiction problems, alcoholism, homeless immigrants, etc. and in particular shelter flats for women and transit accommodation for young people who have reached legal age.
The shelter flats for women were grouped into 33 centres, mostly public, that offered 57 collective abodes and 384 places and provided temporary accommodation to 242 people. The service was under the charge of salaried personnel who accounted for 73% of the staff. Most of these centres are orientated to victims of gender violence, specifically 315 places, of which 62 were intended as shelters, where 189 women lived at the end of 2012.
The transit shelters are accessed by minors who have lived in shelter centres until they have reached legal age, among which there were those who up until then had belonged to the "unaccompanied minor foreigners" group who arrived in the Basque Country in their day. This explains the high percentage of immigrants in this group, with 15 of the centres 100% occupied by foreigners. From these 20 centres, 70 collective abodes and 396 places were offered, in which 325 young people temporarily resided. This group of centres, most of them privately owned but with public financing, was attended by 186 workers, almost all salaried employees (88%).
For further information:
Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Instituto Vasco de Estadística
C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz
Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.eus Tlf: 945 01 75 62
Further press releases for Statistics on Resources for Homeless People