Municipal centers for homeless people have introduced alcohol among their measures so that these people go to municipal social services. A "very complicated" task, they point out from the Area of Families, Equality and Social Welfare , because the homeless with addictions "did not want to enter our shelters." Some even preferred the street to abandon drinking.
There have appeared the rooms of reduction of the damage where the consumption of these drinks is allowed "in controlled doses", they point from the department directed by José Aniorte . Rooms that began "experimentally" in 2018 and are now in three municipal shelters: the Puerta Abierta Reception Center ( Carabanchel ), the San Isidro Reception Center ( Paseo del Rey ) and the newly renovated Center open for homeless people La Rosa (Paseo del Rey). These last two "share their room because of the proximity", indicate the sources consulted by EL MUNDO.
"Not all homeless people have problems with alcoholism, but we know that there is a percentage that is yes and that measure is serving us as a gateway for these people to municipal resources," they indicate from the Aniorte team that quantify by approximately one Thirty the number of homeless people who have taken advantage of this measure, which Telemadrid has reported, where the intake of wine and beer is allowed .
The City Council of the capital states that "the prohibition of alcoholic beverages", which is carried out in municipal centers for the homeless, "did not help these people to detoxify" but rather "on the contrary" because " it caused a lot of people not to enter. " For this reason, sources from the Social Welfare Area say that the program "will be maintained" and even "will try to expand to other centers".
"Madrid was the first city that implemented this measure and it has been seen to work," municipal sources tell this newspaper about the so-called harm reduction program for the homeless, who place this measure as "the first step of Entrance "to social services . "Once the person is already inside, individualized or small group work is much easier" which, they understand in the municipal corporation, then allows these people "to be referred to Madrid Health detoxification programs or social reintegration programs" .
Thus, the consumption of alcohol in controlled doses will be maintained in the new strategy that José Aniorte's team is preparing for the homeless and that it is expected to start operating "in September or October" of this year, according to sources consulted by this newspaper "We must remember that the main objective is not only to give shelter to these people but that they can be fully reintegrated into our society, " the same sources conclude.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
Know more- Madrid
CulturaMadrid will pay tribute to journalist David Gistau by giving his name to the Buenavista library
The Mobile of Barcelona, in vilo for the coronavirus: more than 6,500 Chinese professionals
Fashion Fashion Week moves to the center of Madrid