In this first half of the year, there is a strong increase in people living on the streets in the city of Córdoba, in situations of extreme vulnerability. “No person is exempt from being homeless, it is a utopia to think that they no longer exist,” they say from the Municipality.
For those who walk through the center of the city of Córdoba, the squares and the waterfront, the considerable increase in people living on the streets is evident. People who spend the night outdoors, in extremely precarious conditions, without shelter, improvising beds and shelters, deploying survival strategies.
The universe of those who are homeless, which is growing in large capitalist cities and which took a leap in the pandemic, is complex and combines structural aspects with emerging factors. The lack of housing goes hand in hand with the deepening of poverty which, according to the Social Debt Observatory of the Argentine Catholic University, in the first quarter of 2024 affected 55% of Argentinians, while 18% are under poverty line. The excessive increase in rental prices is combined with the breakdown of community and family ties, the increase in situations of violence, social insecurity, health issues, mental health and problematic substance use.
Added to the vulnerability of these situations is widespread social rejection and hate speech that despises the poorest. According to the Unified Registry of Violence, promoted by social organizations and research teams of the UBA, Acts of violence against homeless people increased by 89% throughout the country, between 2022 and 2023. In addition, there was a 108% increase in deaths of homeless people compared to the previous year. Among the main causes, they point out the increase in violence as a common language, greater intolerance of differences, violence as a form of conflict resolution, the legitimization of these scenes from the mass media and punitivism as a response.
—Have you been sleeping in the square for a long time?
—A few days, yes. Before I was in the Cabildo, but they kicked me out
—Doesn’t it go to municipal homes or organizations?
-No daughter, I don’t like it, better here, even if it’s cold.
According to the annual report of the Ombudsman of Córdoba, in 2023, 139 people lived and slept on the street, while 474 people were assisted by the Municipal State and civil society organizations, in homes, shelters or other devices. . “By 2022, 582 people in total were registered, which represents a difference of more than 5% of the total population,” they detail. However, the increase in people on public roads was 48% in one year.
Today, the problem grew. In conversation with La Tinta, the Undersecretary of Emergency and Social Intervention (of the Secretariat of Social Policies and Human Development) of the Municipality of Córdoba, Mariana Del Campo, explained that From the beginning of January to May, 1,397 people were recruited under the municipal program for homeless people: “Compared to the previous administration, which in four years about four thousand attended, we evidently have a great increase (…) It is a phenomenon in all cities, No person is exempt from being homeless, it is a utopia to think that there are no more”.
—Where did you live before?
—In my house with the family, I see a daughter from time to time, but I can’t go back there. I didn’t leave, they kicked me out, it was a mess.
In 2023, according to data from the Ombudsman’s Office, family conflicts were the first causes that led people to be homeless, mainly for women. “Secondly, problems of a labor or economic nature appear (…) and to a lesser extent health problems or other factors,” and he adds: “There are usually health problems, such as substance use or alcoholism, which lead to economic and/or family problems.”
Today, according to data from the Undersecretary of Emergency and Social Intervention of the Municipality of our city, “The largest amount has to do with problematic consumption and addictions, mainly to alcohol, which also lead to mental health problems. When we interviewed, the majority of people between 25 and 40 years old have lost so much that they can no longer live together, and they seek to have no limits in the space of the street. Here the vulnerability is extreme”.
—You’re not from here, are you?
—No, I’m from the north, I came here a few months ago.
—Why did he come?
—For work, but then it was cut off and I didn’t get anything else and here I am…
The street is a predominantly male space, but, the Ombudsman’s Office indicates, “although women constitute a significantly smaller proportion of the population living on the street, the majority have been homeless for a longer period of time compared to men.”
“There are more women today on the streets due to gender-related problems,” says Del Campo, “and there are men who end up on the streets because they are excluded from their homes due to situations of violence.”. For the municipal approach, they explain, women and children are the first priority, and for this population, as for diversities, There are specific approaches. Currently, about 15 families are housed in the devices.
—I come here to the Terminal because it’s safer, we hang out with others, it’s less cold, put it… I have lung cancer and kidney problems.
Unlike other years, since 2023 the number of people sleeping in the Bus Terminal has increased, mainly to protect themselves from the cold and for safety. Given this, last May they placed armrests on the benches to prevent them from spending the night there, as a form of “tourist recovery of the space.” On the central bridges, other places chosen to sleep, evictions were carried out as a way to prevent people from settling there. Asked about these measures, Del Campo explains that in these places there is the “hard core” of those who do not want to enter the municipal program for homeless people, “because they cannot comply or have not met minimum coexistence guidelines that they have to respect. But now, in a cold situation, we give them the option of at least sleeping in a place without being under the program, which implies many other things that they are not in a position to do or are choosing not to comply with.”
The Program for Homeless People is a municipal policy “that provides accommodation, containment and support,” explains the official, with interdisciplinary teams from the Secretariat of Social Policies and Human Development that tour the city surveying sectors and identifying people without asylum. . And she adds: “The procedures are articulated with mental health, addictions and health agencies, both from the Municipality and the Province, and with 12 third sector organizations that have been working on the problem for many years -Del Campo continues- . For us, these people are subjects of law, so we constantly seek to re-link them with society.”
“The interventions are increasingly complex and have nothing to do with a housing or food response, but rather with reconnecting them with their place of origin. There are people who are excluded from their homes due to situations of violence, there are people who have lost everything. possibility of coexistence due to problematic consumption or addictions, there are people who have come to Córdoba trying their luck and were not successful and are left on the streets. “These are extreme situations,” says Del Campo. People come to the Program by spontaneous demand, by the intervention of other institutions or the Prosecutor’s Office, or by a WhatsApp number where neighbors can report situations to address. Any citizen can contact the Program for Homeless People by WhatsApp message to the number 351 5950589, detailing information so that professionals can deal with it.
*By Anabella Antonelli for La ink / Cover image: The ink.
Keywords: economic crisis, Municipality of Córdoba, street situation
