The Junta do Beato disagrees with the Lisbon City Council’s decision to transfer the response to homeless people currently installed in the Santa Bárbara Barracks to the parish, highlighting that other support already exists in the area.
On March 1, the Lisbon City Council (CML) announced that the Santa Bárbara Barracks accommodation center for homeless people, in Arroios, would be relocated by the end of this year to the north wing of Military Maintenance , in Beato.
The announcement resulted from the agreement of “transfer by the Government” of the property in the North Wing of the Military Maintenance complex, on Rua do Grilo, which “will be in force for a period of 20 years, and may be extended by agreement of the parties up to a maximum duration 50 years”, according to the municipality.
Meanwhile, on March 15, the president of the CML, Carlos Moedas (PSD), said that the new center would open “around Easter”.
In a statement released on its page, the Beato Parish Council said it was reluctant with the measure.
“We consider this situation to be a serious strategic error in assessing the conditions in which the parish finds itself, namely the profound economic, social and structural needs existing in the territory, which do not follow the evolution that has existed in the city of Lisbon, ending up generating a general discontent among residents”, is highlighted in the note.
The Board, chaired by the socialist Silvino Correia, stated that the population of Beato is supportive by nature, but that, “unfortunately, every day they are confronted with extreme episodes of behavior by homeless people who, circulating through the parish, generate feelings of revolt and put the daily lives of residents at risk”.
The municipality recalled that there are already other responses in this area: the Xabregas Reception Center, managed by the Salvation Army, with around 120 users, and the Beato Reception Center, managed by Vitae, located on Rua Gualdim Pais, currently being the largest reception center in Lisbon, with “hundreds of users”.
Near the parish, in neighboring Penha de França, there is also the Integrative Unit for Homeless People, managed by Comunidade Vida e Paz, which serves around 40 people, he added.
For the Board, the CML’s decision to relocate the shelter provided to homeless people from the Santa Bárbara Barracks to a location next to a kindergarten and primary school is “worrying”. the Escola Básica do Beato -, where there are children aged between 3 and 9”.
“Finally, we consider it a bad decision to install equipment for this purpose next to Hub Criativo do Beato/Fábrica de Unicórnios, because if the territory has been successively forgotten in recent decades, the investment that is being made here now appears as a element of hope, materialized in the production of opportunities for the local population, in urban rehabilitation but also in the attraction of new populations that help the rejuvenation and economy of the territory, allowing the parish of Beato to finally feel integrated in its city”, he highlights .
In the municipality’s understanding, the problem cannot be resolved by transferring it to another location in the city.
Therefore, the parish emphasizes that Beato “cannot and should not continue to be a ‘deposit’ for homeless people, even if the council […] be supportive of this issue and understand the need to continue supporting these people.”
