They left 38th Street in Lisbon homeless with a cold weather plan

A contingency plan to support homeless people in cold weather in Lisbon, activated between last Tuesday and Sunday, has taken 38 citizens off the street who are now in the municipal response, according to the chamber.

“As part of this emergency action, from January 9 to 14, the council provided a welcome response to 38 people, freeing them from homelessness, who are now in municipal responses, therefore already in the process of reception and integration and in accordance with your life project,” said the Councilor for Human and Social Rights of the Lisbon City Council (CML), Sofia Atayde (CDS-PP).

The mayor spoke at a meeting of the Municipal Assembly of Lisbon (AML) during the CML period, in which she was questioned by the only deputy from the People-Animais-Natureza (PAN) party, António Morgado Valente. , about supporting homeless people in cold weather.

Sofia Atayde emphasized that the KML proposed to activate a contingency plan for people left homeless due to the cold weather, noting that 38 citizens who were sent to the reception and integration process after this action are no longer living on the streets, reflect the work of the municipality in this direction.

“If we join a thousand [pessoas] that we already cleaned the streets last year, let’s see how much and what important work the Lisbon City Council has done,” he said.

As part of the contingency plan, the municipal pavilion of Casal Vistoso was opened between last Tuesday and Sunday to provide hospitality, hot meals, food and warm clothing, housing 175 homeless people, the councilor said.

Of these 175 people, “89% (156) are men and 11% (19) are women,” “45% are of Portuguese nationality and 55% are migrants,” said Sofia Atayde.

As for the migrants who received support in this context, “50% did not regulate their situation,” the mayor added.

Bruno Mascarenhas, Chega’s deputy, warned of the existence of two homeless people sleeping outside the AML building, deeming it “absolutely shocking” and that it was “a problem that is becoming increasingly worse in the city of Lisbon with no end in sight.” .

In response, Councilor Sophia Atayde assured that this particular situation was under control.

CDS-PP MP Margarida Neto highlighted the draft Municipal Plan for the Homeless (PMPSSA) 2024-2030, which is currently under public consultation, as well as the evaluation of the previous plan for 2019-2023, which concluded that , that aspects of prevention, placement, In this context, employment and health care are important.

“We know that there is an increase in the number of homeless people linked to immigration phenomena: 43% of these people are migrants in an irregular situation who arrive in Lisbon with great vulnerability, without support structures or without an answer to housing or employment,” the MP pointed out SRS-PP.

Margarida Neto also noted that problems of drug addiction, alcohol and other substances, as well as mental health problems affect “more than half of the homeless”, suggesting an expansion of the response at the level of mental health services to include, in addition to Julio, the Hospital de Matos, the Egas Moniz and Santa Hospitals. Maria.

The member of the Council for Human and Social Rights expressed her readiness to seek the cooperation of the mental health services of these two hospitals in Lisbon, adding that the new municipal plan for the homeless proposes a pilot project with a public accommodation model of about 20 beds. for people with mental illness who will be monitored by a psychiatry, psychology and social care team.