The International Committee of the Red Cross in Spain is set to expand its services in San Pedro Alcántara, with the opening of a new centre for homeless in the town.
The town hall is upgrading its existing agreement with the NGO by 60,000 euros to assist the homeless in a municipal building located in C/Fantasía, which was previously managed by the now-defunct ‘Human Being Association’.
San Pedro Alcántara will have its own homeless shelter in 2020 with funds donated from the town hall and managed by the Red Cross. The deputy mayor of San Pedro, Javier Garcia, confirmed that the government team is urgently working together with the charity organisation for the opening of this resource set in the neighbourhood of Fuente Nueva. It comes as a response to reports made by the charities Caritas and the Concordia Aids Association, who declare that they are ‘overwhelmed’ by the pressure on their limited resources to help the homeless who wander the streets in this district. Some people are only passing through aided by an important volunteer service during the summer season, but others live permanently on San Pedro’s public roads.
During day and night time checks carried out by the Red Cross across the municipality, they have identified that between 12 to 14 people live in a marginal situation on the streets of San Pedro.
The councillor in charge of this area has stated they expect the San Pedro homeless shelter to open in the first quarter of 2020, and also affirms that the place where this service is going to be offered is fully enabled for it, apart from some small improvements that will be carried out by the council’s operational services, such as the construction of an external access ramp.
The premises are almost 80m2, distributed into a living room, office, kitchen, male and female bathrooms and two storerooms. The building has been disused for the past three years, since the Human Being Association moved out.
This is a great initiative from the San Pedro town hall and Red Cross and we will keep you posted on future progress.