Poverty and homelessness: a new study in the city of Buenos Aires

Abstract

This study has two objectives: 1) to learn about the socioeconomic, labor, family, environmental and health conditions of homeless people in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires in 2021, 2) to evaluate the effectiveness and functioning of public policy interventions offered to these people and to propose alternatives that contemplate solutions to the surveyed problems, especially in the field of health. By means of a survey designed for a stratified random sample of 400 people according to neighborhood, gender and age, and taking into account the difficulties of sampling given the itinerant nature of the individuals surveyed, it was found that 75% of the people were men, mostly between 26 and 55 years of age, half of them without contact with family members, without help from state agencies, earning a meager income from informal activities and without knowing their organic health status. Moreover, practically more than two thirds reported depression, anguish and other psychological disorders. Likewise, 44% of those surveyed were homeless for the first time, and 39.6% of those who reported having been homeless for more than 5 years. In fact, 84% of the people surveyed said they did not want to go to the centers or “paradores” set up by the Government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires due to the violence and robbery they perceive. The main policy recommendation that emerges from this study is the need to create a new device with a multidimensional approach to treat first of all the mental and organic health problems of homeless people, and to reconvert the current housing centers of the City into places that promote their subsequent labor and family reintegration.