Homeless people in the Balearics

PALMA
THE Balearic Islands offer a total of 274 places for “homeless” people, according to the poll “Centres for Homeless People 2006”, published on Tuesday by the National Institute for Statistics (INE).

Throughout the whole of Spain around 11'000 homeless people daily seek shelter in refuges, flats and guest houses.
The largest group to use these centres is the immigrant population (47 percent), followed by women victims of domestic violence (23 percent), alcoholics (18 percent), drug addicts (18 percent) and ex prisoners (12 percent).

Of the centres studied, 87.5 percent are open all year and the majority all week. In addition to this, more than half are open 24 hours a day and more than 75 percent are open more than 12 hours a day.

The majority of people who use these centres are immigrants or women victims of domestic violence, according to the poll.
In fact, this poll shows that the centres offer a total of 13'033 daily places, with an average daily occupation of 83.1 percent, in comparison with the 80.3 percent of 2002.

The majority of centres take both men and women, although around 15 percent of the centres only take one sex or the other.
The most frequent help offered in these centres is information and shelter, food (breakfast, lunch and dinner), a bed for the night and guidance.
In addition to this, some centres do offer other services, such as helping people to legalise their papers.