The counting of homeless people will be done using a new information system, to allow for faster and more personalized data, announced the coordinator of the Strategy for the Integration of Homeless People.
Currently, it is only at the end of each year that each Local Social Action Council (CLAS) or Homeless Planning and Intervention Center (NPISA) in the 278 municipalities applies the characterization questionnaire, which means that the most recent known data are those relating to 2022, and which refer to the existence of 10.773 homeless people.
In an interview with the Lusa agency, on the occasion of the publication of data for 2022, Henrique Joaquim revealed that a computer information system is already «in the implementation phase, through a computer application».
«It will allow technicians, teams, to manage, whether personalized situations, or later on, we can also have data in a shorter period of time, even in more real time», he explained.
He added that with this computer tool, technicians who are monitoring situations will be able to record, “even if they want on the street”, the monitoring that is being done with each person or define objectives from then on.
«The instrument will be prepared so that, whether at local, municipal or national level, we can, at all times, extract information that allows us to make more timely decisions», he defended.
He highlighted that one of the goals is for each homeless person to have a case manager and that with this new tool this indicator will be one of the first to be monitored, pointing out that it is "a critical point" for success in intervention.
He added that the implementation of the new system began «a few weeks ago» and is being disseminated to «35 centers that work directly with the strategy».
«The objective is to replace the methodology we have of collecting data through questionnaires, at the end of the year, with this information system», pointed out Henrique Joaquim.
Asked whether the number of homeless people could be higher than that recorded in 2022, taking into account that it does not include the reality of 2023 and some associations report that their perception is that the phenomenon could have increased, the person in charge considered «normal for this perception to exist».
«This is a very volatile phenomenon, but I remember that last year organizations even felt that even though there was a pandemic and then a crisis, the trend was not significantly different [in previous years]», he said, adding that As soon as data for 2023 is available, it will be possible to assess whether the perception is confirmed or not.
Henrique Joaquim said he hopes that at the beginning of 2024 there will be data for the year 2023 and that from then on it will be possible to have “more reliable information” during the respective current year.
According to the coordinator of the Strategy for the Integration of People in Homeless Situations, this instrument is only now being implemented because it was necessary to wait for the positive opinion of the National Data Protection Commission, "which took a long time because these issues are complex”.
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