Press Release 26/09/2023

STATISTICS ON RESOURCES FOR HOMELESS PEOPLE. 2022

In 2022 expenditure on centres attending to homeless individuals in the Basque Country rose by 15.8% compared to 2020

These centres attended to fewer people than in 2020, but the places occupied by female victims of gender-based violence rose by 57%

Expenditure on social services centres for homeless individuals in the Basque Country rose to 76 million euros in 2022, 15.8% higher than during the pandemic in 2020, according to Eustat data. Assistance was provided to homeless people through a network consisting of 276 centres and services that accommodated a daily average of 3,410 people, 1.8% less than in 2020, according to Eustat data. Of those who were accommodated, an average of 638 were “homeless” individuals experiencing more serious housing exclusion. This network was served by 2,385 workers

The resources as a whole offered 4,313 accommodation places (as an annual average), 53 more than in 2020, with an occupancy rate of 79%. Of these, places offered in shelters decreased by 16.2%, giving greater weight to housing provision, which increased in respect of 2020, offering 19.2% more places. The average number of flats available for homeless individuals rose by 23.1%, as did the percentage of families attended to, which has almost doubled in the last two years.

There were also 1,375 day places, with an occupancy rate of 88%. Regarding meals, a daily average of 4,472 breakfasts, lunches and dinners were served, almost 20% less than two years before.



The Basque Country provided 16.2% of accommodation places in Spain

Two characteristics stood out in the Basque homeless care network: the smaller size of Basque centres and the higher number of paid workers among their staff, taking into account that in the Basque Country 73.6% were salaried employees compared to 19% who were volunteers, while nationally these figures were 49.5% and 44.6%, respectively. The Basque network provided 16.2% of accommodation places in Spain

Regarding the use of these resources, a daily average of 3,410 homeless people slept at centres offering accommodation in the Basque Country, while the figure stood at 21,684 in Spain as a whole, representing 15.7%.

There tended to be a larger concentration of resources in the capitals

Homeless people tend to converge on big cities, so resources were also mainly directed towards the three Basque provincial capitals. 96.4% of accommodation places and 100% of meal provision capacity and day centre places in Álava were located in Vitoria-Gasteiz. 75.7% of accommodation places, 78% of meal provision capacity and 75.4% of day centre places in Bizkaia were in Bilbao. Gipuzkoa was the most decentralised province, as 41% of accommodation places, 36.8% of meal provision capacity and 38% of day centre places were available in San Sebastián.

Services of particular note in the centres

A variety of services were offered by the Basque network of centres as a whole, focused on improving quality of life for homeless people. Of the total of 276 Basque centres, 73.6% provided “information and shelter”, 65.9% “guidance and referral”, 66.7% “assistance”, 38.4% "professional guidance" and personal services such as personal hygiene (55.8%), laundry (52.2%) and clothing (25.7%). Healthcare, psychological and legal services were provided at 15.9%, 30% and 26.8% of centres, respectively. 43.5% of the centres also provided internet access.

Typology of the people attended to

51.4% of the homeless care centres were focused towards people without particular situations: these are resources that adapt to different emergency needs. Among the centres attending to people experiencing specific situations, of particular note were those dedicated to immigration, 34.3%; people with addictions (alcohol and drugs), which represent 26.1%; and female victims of gender-based violence or trafficking, 35.8%.

As regards the gender of the people attended to, most centres were focused towards both sexes (73.2%), although differences can be observed between provinces as Gipuzkoa had the highest percentage of mixed centres at 82.9%, compared to Álava and Bizkaia, with 67.6% and 65.6%, respectively.

In 2022, places occupied by female victims of gender-based violence in the Basque Country rose by 57% compared to 2020, reaching 270 places. Female victims of gender-based violence were recorded in this statistic classified in the category of “insecure housing”, due to being people living with the threat of violence. They are provided with housing in a location which is unknown to the perpetrator and in many cases they are accommodated with their children.

More than half of the people attended to in the Basque Country (63.4%) were foreign nationals and the distribution by province was similar: Álava, 69.3%; Bizkaia, 65.6%; and Gipuzkoa, 59,3%. In accommodation resources, the percentage of foreign nationals attended to reached 65% for the Basque Country as a whole.

Current expenditure rose to 76 million euros

Assistance provided to homeless people via the Basque Country social services network represented current expenditure of 76 million euros in 2022, 15.8% higher than in 2020. Most of this expenditure (83%) was allocated to centres providing accommodation, amounting to 63.2 million euros, an average annual expenditure of 18,522 euros per person staying there.

Public administrations (principally provincial and local councils) funded 90% of this expenditure. The remaining 10% was funded by the organisations’ own resources (5%), private institutions (3.7%), donations from individuals (1%) and companies (0.3%). In Álava it can be said that almost all the funding was public (97.7%); in Bizkaia this was 85% and in Gipuzkoa public funding reached 92.4%.

Women accounted for 70.2% of the total staff working in the network of centres

In 2022, 2,385 people worked in these centres, 13.3% less than in 2020. The number of salaried employees decreased by 7.7% compared to 2020, while the number of voluntary staff also fell (29.6%). Most of the staff in this sector were female and there was a higher proportion of women among salaried employees (72.8%) than volunteers (59.9%).

In December, 657 homeless people slept in shelters and low-threshold centres

Of the 3,473 people who spent the night in centres offering accommodation in December, a time of greater demand on resources, 657 were “homeless” individuals who slept in the 27 shelters and low-threshold centres set up in the Basque Country, and 60 of them were women. The remaining 2,816 homeless people were in the network's centres and flats, and 1,039 were women.

This statistical operation was performed by Eustat in collaboration with the Spanish National Statistics Institute (INE) in the Basque Country

Methodological note: For the purposes of this survey, a homeless person is considered to be an individual aged over 18 who does not have access to accommodation during the reference period that meets commonly accepted criteria of human habitability, whether the accommodation is legally owned or rented or occupied without charge (including that provided by the public sector or non-governmental organisations and that provided by employers). Other situations include people with addictions, migrants, individuals with an application for international protection, young people who were formerly in care and female victims of gender-based violence who must abandon their primary residence to ensure their safety.

For further information:

Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Basque Statistics Institute C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.eus Tel.: 945 01 75 62