Beja Chamber has already relocated immigrants welcomed in a temporary shelter center

Beja City Council closed the Temporary Night Shelter Center on the 15th of March, installed at the Flávio dos Santos Stadium, after having guaranteed accommodation solutions for the 35 homeless immigrants who were welcomed there on the 12th of February, after having They were removed from a vacant Infraestruturas de Portugal building, where they lived “in undignified conditions”.

According to Beja City Council, this structure, which was set up with support from the Municipal Civil Protection and Operational Services Division of the municipality, «operated for a month, closing as initially planned, on the 15th of March».

«The integration of users of the Temporary Night Shelter was guaranteed through the alternative to accommodation or other types of life projects. To this end, Beja City Council worked with the District Social Security Center in order to find temporary or emergency accommodation responses at national level, with 10 people integrated into Social Emergency Accommodation Centers (CAES) and Temporary Reception Structures (EAT)», revealed the Chamber of Beja.

With this technical support, «it was also possible to find a response in companies with private accommodation and rental (for people who already worked, but were unable to rent a house)».

«On their own initiative, other users of the Temporary Night Shelter moved to other regions of the country, where they found other employment opportunities and better living conditions», the municipality also said.

Within a month, «thanks to the networking of all the entities involved in this process, it was possible for the Municipality to complete a difficult task, a problem that had existed for years, through the closure of the vacant building of the former Escola Superior de Technology and Management (ESTIG), where several social problems were occurring, which constituted a risk to the public health and safety of the population, presenting itself as a reference for housing those who arrived in the city daily, without housing alternatives».

The intervention was implemented by the Center for Planning and Intervention for the Homeless of Faro (NPISA) together «with all entities in the municipality that intervene in this area and in conjunction with the Red Cross, in terms of cleaning and vacating that physical space (responsibility taken over by Beja City Council), as well as the boarding up of the building (under the responsibility of the Red Cross) but also, with Cáritas Diocesana de Beja, the Lar Nobre Freire and the Centro Social Cultural e Recreativo do Bairro da Esperança, through the Cantina Social”.

From the beginning, the ESTAR Association also supported the municipality in terms of food support, daily monitoring and integration of these people into the job market, in conjunction with technicians from the Municipality’s Social Development and Innovation Division (SAAS and GIP Imigrante).

On February 12, a total of 35 homeless immigrants who occupied a vacant building in Beja, owned by the company Infraestruturas de Portugal and leased by the Portuguese Red Cross (CVP), were temporarily rehoused by the city council while they waited for a vacancy in other areas.

The solution found at the time was the installation of 11 containers at the Dr. Flávio dos Santos Stadium, nine of which served as dormitories, one as a changing room and shower and the other as support.

At the time, the mayor of Beja, Paulo Arsénio, explained to Lusa that this relocation was part of an agreement with CVP to vacate the building in question.

“It was a space that, progressively, in recent years, has been illegally occupied by the migrant population and does not have the lowest habitability conditions”, he pointed out, remembering that CVP had a project for this building that never progressed.

As part of this agreement with the CVP, the council committed to relocating the homeless people who occupied the building and cleaning the interior and exterior space, after those people left, the mayor said at the time.

In the statement released today, the Chamber of Beja stated that the entire process had the collaboration of Cáritas Diocesana de Beja, Lar Nobre Freire and the Centro Social Cultural e Recreativo do Bairro da Esperança, through the Cantina Social.

The ESTAR association also supported the municipality “in terms of food support, daily monitoring and integration of these people into the job market, in conjunction with technicians from the municipality’s Development and Social Innovation Division”.