Sustainable ways of preventing homelessness (Copenhagen, 22

Comments paper - Spain
Peer Review on homelessness, Denmark 2013
Sustainable ways of preventing homelessness
(Copenhagen, 22 November 2013)
Comments paper from Spain1
María J. Aldanas2
Asociación Provivienda3
The situation of homelessness in Spain: special focus on youth
homelessness
In Spain, the issue of homelessness has achieved a much higher profile and
received more attention in recent times, in line with the political momentum at EU
level. Although in contrast to the EU trend, the question of accommodation for
homeless people has been approached from the social services point of view, rather
than from the housing perspective.
The Public System of Social Services is responsible for implementing homelessness
policies, both the regional administration (Autonomous Communities) and the
municipalities, remain competent in this area and develop their work through the
social service centres4. This municipal network is co-financed by the State General
Administration (SGA) through the Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality,
through the Basic Provision of Social Services Plan, agreed by the three
administrative levels, which includes specific support to the homeless. Along with
the municipal social services, social organisations play a major role in service
provision for the homeless, partially funded by the SGA. Regarding housing policies,
responsibility is shared between all the three levels of government. The State,
through the Ministry of Public Works, is in charge of developing state housing plans,
of which the most recent is the State Plan of Rental Housing Promotion,
Rehabilitation, Regeneration and Urban Renewal (2013-2016). Both communities
and municipalities are responsible for the provision of social housing for low-income
groups.
According to the latest national Survey by the Spanish National Statistics Institute
(INE) in 20125 22,938 people were homeless in Spain, this compared to 21,900 in
2005, representing an increase of 4.8%. Caritas figures show an increase in the
number of homeless people using their services from 24,463 in 2007 to 30,415 in
20116. The average age of a homeless person is 42.7 (37.9 in the 2005 Survey).
This group is primarily composed of men 80.3%. As regards nationality, 54.2%
were Spaniards and 45.8% were foreign nationals (compared to 48% of the 2005
Survey). 89.0% of homeless persons slept in the same place every night. 43.9%
slept in group accommodation (43.2% in a hostel or residence, 0.5% in shelters for
women victims of violence and 0.2% in centres for refugees). Another 20.8% slept
in flats or pensions provided by NGOs or other institutions, and the remaining
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Prepared for the Peer Review in Social Protection and Social Inclusion programme
coordinated by ÖSB Consulting, the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) and Applica,
and funded by the European Commission.
© ÖSB Consulting, 2013
In collaboration with Clara I. Barraca Goicoechea, from Ministry of Health, Social Services
and Equality
Member of fePsh, Spanish Umbrella of Associations supporting the homeless.
A current reorganisation of government in process will affect Social services.
Spanish National Statistics Institute (INE). 2012 Survey to Homeless People. The definition
of homeless used by INE does not correspond with ETHOS typology.
VV.AA, 2012, Cáritas Española, Acompañandonos. Mirada, Acción y propuestas de Cáritas
con personas que están sin hogar. Red de programas de personas sin hogar de Cáritas.
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Peer Review on homelessness, Denmark 2013
35.3% stayed outside of the existing care network, either in public spaces (14.9%),
in make-shift accommodation (12.8%) or in squats (7.6%).
There is no official statistics regarding rough sleepers although a Caritas report
estimated7 some 6,000 to 10,000 people slept on the streets in Spain. Periodic
homeless counts are conducted as well specially in large cities such as the recent
ones in Madrid8 and Barcelona9.
The traditional profile of homeless people showed in surveys was a man of a certain
age, single, with alcohol abuse issues, socially disadvantaged and with low level of
education. The 2012 Survey data from INE show there are “new entrants” to
homelessness. In respect to this change, if we look at the main reasons of
homelessness, more people became homeless as a consequence of job loss (from
30% in 2005 to 45% in 2012), or failure to pay for their accommodation (from
11.4% in 2005 to 26% in 2012) while other reasons like relationship break-ups
remained almost unchanged (20.9%). Regarding completed studies, 60.3% of the
homeless attained a secondary education level, 22.2% primary studies or lower,
and 11.8% completed higher education. In terms of health, 30.7% of them claimed
to have a chronic illness. It is worth noting that 16.6% of these suffer from some
kind of mental disorder and 15.2% of them had a recognised disability. As for drug
use, 62.7% stated that they had never used drugs, and 37.3% had used them at
some point. In contrast to this scenario, the Danish context profiles have higher
prevalence of mental health problems, drug use, or both.
Similarly, service providers working with the homeless have witnessed the
apparition of new profiles. In particular, an increasing number of homeless service
users are people who are currently unemployed and who have exhausted all
available unemployment benefits or other subsidies and entitlements. They often
lack family support or families cannot support them any longer. Cases of loss of
habitual residence due to foreclosures or non payment of rent are appearing more
frequently in the different services, broadening the socio-economic profile of the
homeless population.
Turning now to the issue of homeless intervention in relation to accommodation,
the "Staircase Model"10 remains the prevalent approach in addressing homelessness
in Spain. Most services require conformity with treatment and abstinence from
drugs and alcohol. The "Housing First"11 approach is still not well known in our
country and little literature can be found on the subject in Spanish12. In fact, this
approach has been known by participation in European networks such as FEANTSA,
mainly by social organisations, which have begun to disseminate and discuss the
possibilities of implementation in Spain13.
Therefore, it is more common to find experiences of the broader concept of
"housing led approaches" which places independent accommodation as a key to
developing social intervention. To mention just a few of them: in the private sector,
the Rental Mediation Programme for disadvantaged groups run by Provivienda or
housing management of social housing within the Network of Social Housing
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2011 Homeless Campaign, Cáritas Spain.
IV Homeless Count, City of Madrid, 13 December 2012.
Sales i Campos, Albert. 2013, Diagnosi 2013. Homeless people in the city of Barcelona and
the evolution of resources of the Network of Attention to Homeless people.
In Spain the term ‘itinerarios residenciales’ -residential itineraries-, is used more often. It
does not imply a linear intervention; accommodation is used in a flexible manner.
“Housing first” in a broader sense: from Pathways to Housing to the other variants.
Op. Cit. footnote 6, García-Carpintero Broto, G., Primero Vivienda, pg. 289.
VV.AA, 2012, EAPN Madrid, El modelo Housing First, una oportunidad para la erradicación
del Sinhogarismo en la Comunidad de Madrid.
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Inclusion by Fundació Mambre. In the public sphere, a pilot project is currently
being designed by the social housing department of the Housing Agency of
Catalonia in partnership with different Catalan homeless service providers.
Some organisations have begun to implement initiatives in line with the “Housing
First” approach by placing people in permanent housing rather than in shelters like
the Homeless Support Project in Zaragoza (diocesan Caritas). Although limited and
experimental, the RAIS Foundation plans to implement a project that incorporates
the “Housing First” approach in several municipalities in 2014. The project adopts
an orthodox housing first approach, targeting homeless people with mental health
problems, addictions and disabilities in single residential units. The implementation
will be systematically tested and results evaluated.
As regards the young homeless, the INE data show that 19.3% are young people
aged 18 to 29:
INE Surveys
2005
2012
Young Spanish
1,535 (13.5% of all Spanish
homeless)
Young immigrants
5,004 (47.4% of all immigrants)
1,026 (8.2% of all Spanish
homeless)
3,408 (32.4% of all
immigrants)
All homeless youth
6,539 (29.9 % of all homeless)
4,434 (19.3% of all homeless)
Source: INE data: Surveys 2005 and 2012 designed by fePsh14
Unlike the Danish case, in Spain there has been a decrease in youth homelessness
and an increase of the average age of the homeless in comparison to the 2005
Survey. On the other hand, the survey confirms young migrants are
disproportionately represented among the young homelessness (both in proportion
to the general homeless population and within the immigrant population) although
numbers are lower than in the 2005 Survey.
Notwithstanding the preceding data, the homeless youth may be difficult to detect
and count as mentioned in the Danish host country paper. There is some
agreement that some homeless youth situations may be hidden 15 as young people
do not wish to be considered homeless are reluctant to access traditional homeless
services such as shelters, soup kitchens, and clothing services - even refusing the
intervention of emergency services. Young homeless individuals staying temporarily
with friends, squatting or even living in slums around the cities and on streets are
common situations. According to the Observatory of Council for the Emancipation of
the Youth, 80% of young Spanish people under-30 are still living with their parents
due to the high percentage of their income they would need to dedicate to buy or
rent a home. Moreover, late emancipation of the youth in Spain is a trait of the
Spanish social model, framed in the Mediterranean Welfare Model where social
intervention by the state is less extensive than in the North and Central Europe and
people rely more on family16. Thus, strong family networks are providing a social
buffer against housing exclusion.
The Danish strategy has perfectly identified the number of homeless and the
percentage of young people among them. In the Danish case, most homeless
people and young people are concentrated amongst individuals with complex
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Report drafted by the Federation of organisations supporting homeless people (fePsh) as a
response to a FEANTSA questionnaire on Homelessness Youth, 2013.
Ibid.14: City Council and social organisations working with young homeless in Madrid.
Busch-Geertsema, V.; O’Sullivan, E.; Edgar, B. and Pleace, N, (2010) FEANTSA Brussels.
Homelessness and Homeless Policies in Europe: Lessons from Research.
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support needs. The 2012 Survey shows some relevant data about the 18 to 29 age
group in Spain:
 26% of the chronically ill homeless youth suffer from some form of mental
disorder (172 out of 661). Within this age group, 26.4% were substance users;
 Regarding employment status, the majority, 73%, were unemployed;
 21.56% of respondents had only completed primary education, 19.9% had
completed secondary education, while 11.2% had some form of higher
education;
 5.4% of the homeless youth had been living in a public institution until the age
of 18.
Although there are young homeless substance users or people suffering from
mental illness among the homeless youth in Spain, data reflect a higher number of
young people from families in economic poverty or unemployment. Thus, 59% of
young people come from families where lack of money was a problem and in 39.3%
of cases the young individual had at least one family member in a situation of longterm unemployment. Nevertheless, causes of youth homelessness are complex and
cannot be explained by a single factor although some may be more relevant. The
primary causes17 of homelessness among youth are:
 Relationship breakdown between the young person and their family;
 Discharge from institutional care and transition to adult life. The system fails to
prepare young people in care for emancipation and to support them adequately
during the transition to adulthood;
 Other issues such as substance abuse, problems adapting to their environment,
disruptive behaviour, lack of positive role models and family conflict;
 Low levels of qualifications, high drop-out rates and obstacles to official
recognition of education;
 Employment instability and low wages. Employment in the grey economy and as
a consequence impossibility to apply for unemployment benefits and allowances.
In addition to this, specific difficulties are pointed out regarding young homeless
immigrants, often connected to their legal status: higher youth unemployment,
greater difficulties in access to social services, and, most importantly, lack of
economic resources.
Generally speaking, youth homelessness does not appear to be a significant issue in
Spain while youth unemployment appears to be the real issue. According to data
from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) 2013 18, the youth unemployment rate (aged
16 to 24) stood at 54.37% at the end of the second quarter. Young people suffer
from precarious employment such as temporary employment or underemployment
as well. It is in the area of regular employment where most proposals and policies
from the state and the regional governments have been introduced. Social
organisations working with the young in the different territories have highlighted
the need to accord a higher priority to preventative intervention with youngsters
formerly in care. In this field, there are different approaches depending on the
region, establishing a range of programmes aimed at supporting and promoting the
emancipation of young people leaving care.
We can mention some examples such as the Social Support Programme for young
adults living on the streets developed by Option 3 in Madrid which performs an
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Report drafted by the Federation of organisations supporting homeless people (fePsh) as a
response to a FEANTSA questionnaire on Homelessness Youth, 2013.
Labour Force Survey, LFS, INE, 3rd quarter 2013.
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intensive educational intervention with young people from 18 to 21 years who are
on the streets, homeless, or in the process of transition to independent living
without family or social network support and at risk of becoming homeless. This
intervention is focused on the acquisition of emancipation skills and adulthood
habits. In the same way, the Emancipation Itinerary programmes developed in
Zaragoza and Barcelona, offer technical and educational support to youngsters
formerly in care or already in care at risk of social exclusion ages 16 to 25, helping
their move towards independence.
As regards the question of housing for the homeless youth, public housing policies
have been ineffective to ensure access to decent housing for a part of the
population, since it was confined exclusively to individuals with the economic
capacity to acquire it on the market. The lack of comprehensive policies that would
facilitate youth emancipation contributes to this situation of homelessness, although
there have been some initiatives in this area:
 State housing plans included subsidised housing developments for people with
low to moderate incomes, housing for specific groups included young people
under-35. These provisions were later developed by regional housing plans.
However, housing supply was scarce and allocation procedures showed a higher
demand;
 “Dotational”19 accommodation is linked to urban development and can offer a
stable and affordable housing supply ensuring the possibility of emancipation of
young people and other groups, developed mainly in the Basque Country,
Navarre and Catalonia;
 Rental Mediation Programmes for Young people under-35 effectively manage
rental supply and demand but also help raising awareness and provide
reassurance to private landlords by offering them incentives;
 Financial aid for the payment of the rent to low-income youth, such as the Basic
Emancipation Rent (recently abolished due to the financial crisis) or the current
programme of Aid to rent targeting the general population;
 Other local initiatives include the “Municipal Housing Programme for solidarity
youth” of Bilbao aimed at postgraduate students who benefit from an affordable
rental apartment in exchange for their involvement in social and community
activities in the area. Similarly, the "Solidarity Youth Programme" of Alicante
encourages young people as agents of local change.
Challenges in preventing and tackling homelessness
As we have been outlining in the previous section, Spain faces different challenges
in prevention and care policies for the homeless. We would like to highlight some
fundamental aspects which would be necessary to tackle.
First of all, the challenges related to the global economic downturn in Spain and its
implications in the social field. Since the beginning of the crisis, the poverty rate in
Spain has reached 26.8% of the population according to the indicator "risk of
poverty and social exclusion". A society with this rate is a fragmented society where
social cohesion is threatened. In Spain three million people 20 (6.5% of the
population) are living in extreme poverty, on less than 307 € a month.
Furthermore, in the third quarter of 2013, the number of unemployed amounted to
5.9 million, 25.98% of the population21. According to the LFS, the number of
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Tejedor Bielsa, J., 2013, Vivienda protegida sobre suelos de dominio público destinados a
equipamiento, en http://administracionpublica.com/
VIII Report of the Observatory of Social Reality, Cáritas Spain, October 2013.
Labour Force Survey, LFS, INE, 3rd quarter 2013.
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households with all active members unemployed rose to 1,807,700 (of a total of 17
million households). Budgetary adjustments have resulted in reduced availability of
finance for the governments, severely limiting their capacity to maintain social
policies. This situation has direct negative consequences on the most vulnerable,
including the homeless.
Confronted with these situations of unemployment, job insecurity and increased
poverty, it is necessary to put in place adequate protection mechanisms to address
social exclusion and help prevent the most extreme form of exclusion which is
homelessness through employment policies and housing policies with inclusive
components and preventative effects.
Another challenge of the Spanish State is to implement a comprehensive policy
coordinated from state level to address the situation of homeless people bearing in
mind the specificities of youth homelessness. Despite the efforts made by all the
stakeholders, it is extremely important to advance towards more vertical and
horizontal co-ordination between the different public administrations, more
interconnection and comprehensive policies involving all different areas (healthcare,
education, social services, housing, justice, migration, etc.) and towards the
alignment of the different open processes of social protection.
With respect to young people, it is necessary to address the most common causes
of homelessness among youth to inform prevention and, where appropriate,
provide specific housing resources other than the traditional homeless
accommodation services. In particular, and based on the findings of previous
diagnosis, providing generalised support resources in the transition to adulthood, to
prevent homelessness situations generated by discharge from institutional care. In
terms of employment, measures to combat youth unemployment have to be
strengthened, especially measures for the less qualified youth (appropriate training,
flexibility training routes, apprenticeships and internships, significant bonuses, etc).
In the area of housing one of the main current challenges is bringing back empty
housing22 into social use in order to ensure enough affordable housing for low
income households like the youth, who cannot afford housing in the private market.
In Spain, we are far from implementing widespread solutions based on the
"Housing First" approach. One of the main difficulties is that there is still no
consensus on the preference of standard housing to shelters. However, there is a
trend towards service providers increasingly offering standard housing for the
homeless, as in the city of Barcelona where the number of housing units has
increased (almost doubled) between 2008 and 2013 23. It represents a huge
challenge to mainstream the “Housing First” approach to address homelessness due
to the different obstacles in the Spanish context:
On the one hand, those related to the necessary provision of affordable housing.
The Danish strategy emphasises the need for enough housing at local level to get
the expected results, which was not always possible. As mentioned before, there is
social municipal housing available and, on the other hand, the empty homes could
be used for private rental with a social function.
Of greater significance are funding constraints in the context of public spending
cuts. The implementation of the model implies the need for a major ‘rechanneling’
of existing resources: the Danish strategy required considerable additional
expenditure to deliver the multi-professional intervention and the necessary social
support that allows the person to remain housed. Finally, the existence of
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23
National Institute of Statistics, Census 2011 confirmed 3.4 million empty homes in Spain.
Sales i Campos, Albert. 2013, Diagnosi 2013. Homeless people in the city of Barcelona and
the evolution of resources of the Network of Attention to Homeless people.
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entrenched operational modes among those in charge of the design, planning, and
implementation of the different homeless policies is another non-negligible
difficulty. It would require a ‘mind shift’ among service providers as the new
approach implies essential modifications on the ways of delivering services.
Regarding the situation of loss of housing due to eviction and foreclosure processes,
which in recent years has become a key social and political issue 24, it is indeed
challenging to strengthen the protection to mortgage debtors beyond the measures
already implemented providing for the immediate suspension of evictions for a
period of two years for families who are in a particular risk of exclusion (the
requirements envisaged in the legislation indicate that the suspension of the
evictions on these grounds could be limited) and the creation of the Social Housing
Fund25.
Lessons learned
It is extraordinarily difficult to make a comparison between two states as diverse as
Spain and Denmark, as differences are substantial from the social, demographic,
economic or administrative perspectives. While Denmark is a relatively small
country with 5.5 million inhabitants, lower than the metropolitan area of Madrid,
Spain is a large state with a much larger population of over 46 million people.
Denmark belongs to the Nordic welfares states based on strong social cohesion
while the welfare system was implemented later in Spain. Spain is a highly
decentralised state which has transferred competences for implementation of social
protection to the communities while in Denmark the municipalities have increased
their responsibilities in that area. In relation to homelessness, in Spain the issue is
strongly linked to more structural problems and relatively weaker benefits for the
most vulnerable while in Denmark with a relatively intensive welfare system,
homelessness is concentrated amongst individuals with complex support needs. All
this makes it difficult to replicate the Danish strategy. However, some relevant
aspects would be useful for policy development in Spain:
 Firstly, the Danish strategy is based on the strong political commitment of the
different levels and areas of government with the participation of civil society;
 It seems clear that a public policy committed to a specific intervention model,
with all its implications, including adequate financing and full involvement of
stakeholders, results in a successful policy;
 Another lesson learned is the importance of developing policies in a flexible way,
adapting to the lessons from their implementation;
 The large scale social experimentation element of the Danish strategy,
systematically monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness results, has been
extremely instructive;
 We found especially enlightening the effectiveness of the policy in terms of
housing retention rates as well as learning how the different types of housing
worked: scattered independent housing better than collective accommodation
always with intensive floating support. Other instructive elements were related to
the consequences on institutionalisation of congregate housing and how they
could generate harsh environments due to the concentration of vulnerable people
which could hinder other processes;
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From 2008 to 2012 foreclosures dramatically increased: 349.438. Data from the General
Council of the Judiciary in the second quarter of 2013: 18,077 procedures: 36.23%
foreclosures and 58.23% originated by the tenancies Act.
Act 1/2013 of 14 May on measures to reinforce the protection of mortgage debtors, debt
restructuring and social rental housing.
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 The efficiency shown by the Danish strategy could be an additional evidence of
the strengths of the “Housing First” model. This experience also shows that it
could be more economically efficient than the "Continuum of care" model,
especially as a well-planned strategy and the ability to develop evidence-based
methods.
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